My understanding is that a Google Maps user should get 10 points for each caption he/she creates for a photo he/she uploads. I caption all of my photos when I upload them, but my tally of points shows 0 points for captions. Can someone please advise me about this? Thanks.
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Hi @wdlindsy,
Welcome to this wonderful community. This is like a home for Local Guides.
Request you to please go through the following articles. This will help you immensely.
- Welcome to the new and improved Connect!
- Visit our Community Guidelines page, to know more about our community.
- 5 Core Values of Connect
- A Welcome to Connect Hand
- Introduce Yourself
- While replying to a specific Local Guide (LG) or to mention a specific LG, please use â@â followed by the respective LG user id. You will get this by typing â@â, then a list with suggestions appears, e.g. mine is @Kumaarsantosh.
Now for your specific query about Captions and points, please follow the post: All about CAPTIONS
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Hello @wdlindsy welcome to the Local Guides Connect community!
Unfortunately, we only get those 10 points, when uploading the photo together with the caption using the Update by visitors tab, but not when adding a capture after uploading through My Contributions. 
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Thank you for this information.
Thank you. This is very helpful information. Iâll see if I can figure out how to use that tab as I upload and caption photos in future.
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@Kumaarsantosh @wdlindsy @WilfriedB
Over time, contributions to the world of photography can be a delicate balance of acceptance and rejection. As someone who has walked this path, I understand its bittersweet nature deeply. My journey as a contributor to Google Maps has been punctuated by moments of both recognition and disappointmentâan experience that has, over time, left me numb to the whims of such platforms.
For years, I dedicated myself to capturing the world in stunning 360-degree panoramic photographs. Each image was a labor of love, reflecting the unique essence of a city or location. Dozens of these works were accepted by Google Maps, showcased to millions of viewers, and assigned to city addresses to offer a window into urban life. It felt like a validation of my effortsâa small but meaningful contribution to how the world sees itself.
But then, the tides shifted. Google Maps revised its policies, deciding that placing panoramic photos at city addresses was now against the rules. Overnight, my cherished works were removed, and my total view counts plummeted by millions. It was a jarring experience, one that left many contributors infuriated. Some expressed their discontent by deleting their accounts altogether, turning instead to platforms like Facebook to share their work.
For me, however, the reaction was different. By that point, I had become desensitized to rejection and change. I didnât rage against the platform or abandon it entirely. Instead, I found myself clinging to a faint hope, a persistent fantasy that my work could still find a place in the ever-evolving world of Google Maps.
Despite the setbacks, I continued to contribute my photography for free. It wasnât about the views anymoreâalthough they were once a source of pride. It was about the act of creating and sharing something meaningful, even if its impact was no longer as visible as it had been.
This resilience wasnât born of blind loyalty or naivety but rather a quiet determination to keep moving forward. Photography, after all, is more than numbers or recognition. Itâs about capturing moments, telling stories, and sharing perspectives. And as long as I have the ability to do that, no policy change or algorithm shift can take away the essence of what drives me.
In the end, Iâve learned that while platforms may rise and fall, the art of contribution remains timeless. And so, I carry on, lens in hand, still hoping that the next image might make a small difference in the way someone sees the world.
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William, you need to open the place listing on the mobile and scroll down until you find the tabs Overview, Menu, Reviews, Photos.
Then slide the tab bar to the left to see Updates. When you click it, you see By owner and By visitors below. Click By Visitors.
After that, click Add Photo Contribution at the bottom, select a photo for upload and (optionally) enter a caption.
Unfortunately the UI on my device is in German language and an old version of Maps, so Neuigkeiten should appear as Update in English and Von Besuchern as By Visitors or similar:
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Please read the process and try again.
@wdlindsy @WilfriedB
Oder auch so:
Explorer und Add Post und Post
Die Anzeige ist in deutsch, ich hoffe ich habe die englischen Worte dazu.
Caption und Location
Ich benutze vorzugsweise diese Seite um Bilder/Videos mit Unterschrift zuzufĂźgen.
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I experienced the same situation. My view count dropped by half in one day. The reason is that my reported comments were suspended en masse. My individual comments, as initially reported, were being suspended repeatedly. I am on the verge of quitting local guiding due to my approximately 10 reviews a week being suspended. I deleted my comments in bulk. I felt the urge to move on to different platforms, but I decided to move forward with Google again. I donât know why. There are many alternatives to Google, such as Yandex, for commenting.
As a result of my efforts of about 2 years, I can say that my comments are almost not removed anymore. This depends on the person herself. The person who does not give up on making an effort wins. As you said, many local guides deleted their accounts, but this is not a solution.
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Previously, the removed comment was not visible when you logged into Gmail. More precisely, the comment was visible but it was not added as a number. Of course, Google changed this after receiving backlash. The unpublished comment is now added as a number when you log in with Gmail. This is certainly not ethical behavior. The likes of your comment that was removed because it was reported were deducted from your total like count. The likes of your comment, which is currently suspended due to being reported, are not being deducted. Of course, this is unethical too.
Very good effort @wdlindsy. I only do this when I come back and add new photos to a place where I already have old contributions previously. I find and open the place on Google Maps, scroll down until I see âPost a photo updateâ, click in the âSay something about your photosâ field to add my caption, and browse through the new photos to find the one I wish to add.
Hello @Kumaarsantosh, I thought your response was a bit superfluous, but then that last line with the link to âAll about Captionsâ was excellent. It definitely clarifies a few important details about the process.
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@WilfriedB - to translate that to what I see in English when I use your method, it is Overview, Menu, Reviews, Photos. Then under By Visitors I see Add a photo update.
I love your perspective @Tiger.
Keep up the good work.
Hi @tony_b
The welcome remark is the gesture we possess and extend when someone is posting for the first time (system message in the attached photo) in our community.
Thanks for reading âAll about Captionsâ.
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Thanks a lot for clarification, Tony!
The difficulty when dealing with user interfaces (UI) in different languages, is the fact that translating the words is not enough. Many times the translator of an UI choose translations which are not obvious or even modify the layout.
Besides that, it depends on the version of the Maps app. I used an old smartphone yesterday, which doesnât receive updates any more
Since I had always problems to find this function on the mobile, I thought it might be helpful to explain the process again.
@tony_b
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Thank you for this information.
Thank you for this very helpful information. Iâm grateful for it.
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Thank you.
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