I am a Local Guide currently at Level 4, and I am very passionate about mapping my area, Kot Iqbal. Recently, I have made many contributions—including adding places and uploading photos—but I have noticed that these are not reflecting in my total points.
I have been waiting for some time, and my progress seems to be stuck. Could a moderator or an experienced Local Guide please help me understand why my recent contributions are not being counted?
Hello @MR.NMM welcome to the Local Guides Connect community!
The total points are never updated immediately. It takes at least 24 hours, sometimes even several days until the servers are updated. So just be patient and wait a couple of days.
Welcome to Connect @MR.NMM as @WilfriedB has mentioned to you it does take a few days for points to catch up. It is the same for all of us , so do not worry, check in a few days and all should be good.
I’m very happy that you recently (your older contribution is 4 days old) developed the passion on improving Google Maps. The fact that you started so recently can easily explain what has been mentioned by @WilfriedB and @TerryPG : points are not attributed immediately. It takes at least 24 hours.
Are your addition of places already approved? Points for edits are given only after the approval. In this case the pop-up message that shows the points is only related to the points you may receive after the approval, plus at least 24 hours.
As you are very new in Google Maps, I would like also to warn you about the policies, because on the future this may put your account at risk:
avoid adding very similar images, because redundancy is diluting the information in Google Maps.
Originally (photos taken by us at the place) is strongly required. Kindly remove the images taken from the web or from social media, and AI generated images (one of yours clearly shows Gemini’s logo).
Kindly remove the images mentioned above, please keep those simply rules in mind, and you will see your account growing up quickly.
Before you ask, getting views for your images will take a few more days
I sincerely appreciate your helpful explanations. As a Local Guide who has recently become active again, I am still getting familiar with how the current contribution and points system works. Your guidance has helped me understand that points are not updated immediately and that approved edits and new places may take some time before they are reflected.
Thank you also, @ErmesT, for pointing out the Google Maps photo policies. I appreciate the advice and will carefully review my uploaded photos to ensure they fully comply with Google’s guidelines. Some of my images were only enhanced with AI, so if you could kindly let me know which image(s) you were referring to, I will remove them immediately. My goal is to contribute only high-quality, original content that genuinely helps other users.
Just to clarify one point, I am not completely new to Google Maps. I actively contributed between 2008 and 2011, but unfortunately, I later deleted the Google account associated with those contributions and lost access to it. So while I have only recently resumed contributing with this account, I do have previous mapping experience.
I am passionate about improving Google Maps for my local area, in Pakistan, and I hope to continue making meaningful contributions to the community.
Thank you once again for your encouragement and support. I truly appreciate being part of the Local Guides community.
Thank you very much, @ErmesT, for your detailed explanation and valuable advice.
I really appreciate you taking the time to review my contributions and point out the Google Maps policies. Your guidance has helped me better understand how the approval and points system works, and I will be more careful to ensure that my future contributions fully comply with the guidelines.
Regarding the photos, some of my images were only enhanced using AI tools, but they were based on my own original photographs. If you were referring to a specific image that doesn’t meet the policy requirements, I would be grateful if you could let me know which one it is so that I can remove it immediately.
Although I have only recently resumed contributing with this account, I actually contributed to Google Maps between 2008 and 2011 using a different Google account that I no longer have access to. I’m excited to be back and look forward to making meaningful, high-quality contributions to Google Maps and the Local Guides community.
Thank you again for your encouragement and guidance.
Just watching your latest photos, most of the 9 photos, even though not really duplicate, I would consider as redundant, i.e. don’t provide additional information to potential customers:
Thank you very much, @WilfriedB, for taking the time to review my contributions and for your detailed feedback.
I truly appreciate your guidance. Based on your advice, I have already removed the 3 photos from Rajpoot Traders and also removed several similar photos from AR Mobiles to reduce redundancy.
I will be much more careful going forward and will focus on uploading only original, useful, and non-redundant photos that add value to Google Maps.
You also mentioned that I currently have one hidden photo. If possible, could you please let me know which photo or place it is associated with? I would be grateful for your help so that I can review it and remove it if necessary.
Thank you again for your patience, guidance, and support. I am learning a lot from the experienced members of this community.
Unfortunately, only you can do this @MR.NMM and most likely only with the assistance of another user.
“Hidden” contributions (reviews, photos, videos) happen, because a SPAM filter rejected them without telling us.
You can easily determine, how many of your contributions are hidden, by opening your profile in an incognito (aka private) browser session and compare the sum of the numbers, I marked in red on the right with the number on the left:
And I realize, you already did remove the hidden one in the meantime! However, the process to identify hidden contributions requires to compare the listing of your photos (or reviews) in two sessions: One being logged in with your own profile and the second one with another user’s and then scroll down in parallel.
But I also suggest, soon after uploading new media, to share the link in an incognito window. If you see “no user photo” under a black window, the photos was hidden immediately after uploading. But hiding contributions can also happen long time after posting.
Looks like you did a big clean-up already, @MR.NMM , based on the helpful indication by @WilfriedB , including the photos AI generated or sourced from the web.
Thanks for doing it.
A few additional examples. Taking 2 of more photos of a place is very common. I normally I do that, then I select the best one, I publish it, and I delete the other from my storage. On this way I avoid Maps to suggest me to also publish them
Yes, I have reviewed my contributions and removed the AI-enhanced and unnecessary photos based on the helpful guidance from you and @WilfriedB.
I have also deleted the additional similar photos you pointed out to avoid duplicate uploads. Thank you for explaining the best practice of selecting and publishing only the strongest photo from a place. That’s a valuable tip, and I will follow it in all of my future contributions.
I really appreciate your patience and guidance. I’m here to learn and improve, and your advice is helping me become a better Local Guide.
I wrote this series of posts for highlighting the most common mistakes we may make when we upload photos. Hope you will find them helpful for your future contributions as a “great” Local Guide
Hello @MR.NMM, what types of contributions are you predominantly making?
You’ll probably notice that points for adding photos are reflected immediately, but Roads, Places, and Edits often have a delayed approval.
Meanwhile, it looks like your passion is getting results. You stated you’re Level 4, but you’ve already jumped to Level 5 since you posted. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, @tony_b, for your kind words and encouragement.
Yes, I was happy to see that I recently reached Level 5. Thank you for noticing!
My main contributions are adding missing places, correcting place information, updating business and landmark details, uploading original photos, and improving map accuracy in my local area, especially Kot Iqbal, Punjab, Pakistan.
At the moment, I’m also working on documenting important public places such as schools, mosques, graveyards, community facilities, and other local landmarks to make Google Maps more useful for residents and visitors.
I appreciate the guidance and support from everyone in this discussion. I’m learning a lot and will continue focusing on high-quality, original contributions.
