I have been contributing to Google Map for several years. I started the journey by updating my home and nearby roads on Google Map even before launch the Local Guide program in Sri Lanka. I found that was really interesting at that time and it took more time in front of a desktop computer back in the days. Nowadays with our smartphones and the new interactive interface, it is so much easier and enjoyable to contribute to Google Maps. With this platform it has been made easy for, any willing person to edit and make an addition to the map. The world is a big place and it’s becoming bigger every minute with new infrastructure and addition of places. It is practically impossible for one person or few groups to keep track of this rapidly changing world and update the map. But it has been made possible by a set of a very special group of people. They are not one, hundreds or thousands, they are in now millions of from every corner of the world dedicated to keeping the map up to date and relevant. Even the street view expires in a couple of months due to constructing new buildings and changing of the places. But Local Guides don’t let map details to expire. Their continuous contribution keeps the map growing alongside the real word.
It is pride being a Google Local Guide in Sri Lanka which is a tourist’s hotspot for a long time. According to Lonely Planet, Sri Lanka is the number one tourist destination for the year 2019. Therefore international tourists would love to explore and experience the best of Sri Lanka including ancient cities, stunning nature, rich culture, and delicious food. Still, our country has many places to uncover the map. More information means more reliable the Map will be. Adding information such as places, roads, pictures, and reviews would help not only for international tourists but also for locals.
What I love to contribute most and the reasons for that
I am passionate about uncovering missing information in the Google Map. I usually add missing information on the map and it has become a habit of mine. Whenever I see any important information missing on the map, I would try to do my due diligence and update those to the map. Helping Google to verify the facts is now way easier with my mobile phone and I enjoy it doing on the go. Google Map helped me a lot not only to find locations on the map but also saved a lot of time and money by finding more suitable restaurants, options, roads during trips.
I want to make the map more eco-friendly by adding and editing the correct information. I have a couple of bad experiences of getting lost and confusing by wrong information on the map. Therefore I know how bad it feels and how frustrated you get when traveling several kilometers to someplace only to realize that place has permanently closed or doesn’t exist while the place being live on the map. I don’t want to feel any Google Maps user same way with the wrongful information and I believe that it is a key responsibility of all local Guides to keep the map clean and tide.
Moreover, when I have a quick break between my busy schedules being an Engineer, I don’t forget to answer quick yes-no questions about the places that I have visited. Furthermore, I have started filming my expeditions of my traveling hobby using action camera and drone. Local guide community and the map is a great place to share my best clicks with others. Now I don’t forget to take few nice shots of places only to add to the map
Recently I have learned about meet-ups and I wanted to host a meet-up. Then I have hosted a photo walk in Gampaha area during the new year holiday and I was able to complete the event successfully. Several Local Guides were joined with me and a couple of my friends were became local guides at the meet-up. Here is the link to recap post of my very first meet-up. Then I was invited to another meet-up hosted by fellow Local Guide in the same week. Follow this link to know about our contributions to the map during the meet-up.
With all of these contributions, I have become a level 7 local guide and I know I can go much further and do much more contributions to the map. Even though it’s not a thing you could showcase everywhere outside the community, seeing our guide level increasing or receiving some a special badge with respect to our contributions is very satisfying. However I know one thing, with or without level ups, with or without nice badges to show around, I will be doing my duty as a local guide as long as I could, to make the Google Map better and greater…
| My Contributions | Last Meetup |
