Part 3: Your Results may vary- just using the archive feature only and a problem with managing the Google Maps Album
Part 4: Video and explanation of adding photos to an album
Part 5: Video and explanation of moving photos to the Archive
Part 6: Setting up an album in Google Photos and setting the sort order to newest.
Recently I have been experimenting with using the archive system within Google photos to help with my local guide workflow and I am finding it very effective.
First, I created an album in Google Photos called “_Google-Maps”. (the underscores help keep it at the front of the list when sorted by name). See Here for the steps involved in setting up the folder.
So say I go out and shoot 50 pictures one day at several locations. 30 are for adding to Maps and the rest are for personal use, but they are sorted by time, not by the way I plan on using them. This is how I work on them later:
I select the 30 that I took for Maps , click add and then select my _Google-Maps album (_GMA). (see Here for the process)
I open my _GMA and I will see my newest photos first.
I delete any that I’m sure I won’t be using, let’s say 10.
I add a star (mark as favorite) the ones I edit and plan on uploading to Maps.
In Maps I go to add photos, choose the ones with stars and add them.
Back in Photos I select all 20 (starred and non-starred) and choose add to archive (see here for process)
Using stars only on uploaded photos lets you see at a glance which ones you have done.
By having a Google Maps photo folder you can see all your local guide photos in one place without having to scroll through your main photo stream.
When you move a photo to the archive, you will still see it in your _GMA, but you will no longer see it in your main photo stream. After using this for a while, it means that if you are scrolling through your main photo stream and see a photo that is related to your local guide activities; it means you haven’t done anything with it. You can:
delete it,
Or Add it to your _GMA
And then
Archive it for future reference
Edit it, star it, upload it and then archive it.
Archiving photos when I am done with them makes it much easier to keep track of where I am in the processing of my Maps photos.
Part 3: Your Results may vary- just using the archive feature only and a problem with managing the Google Maps Album
You may find that archiving photos is all you need to do to help manage your photos. I like having a folder where I can see just my Maps photos and tell by the star if I have used them.
There is one issue with keeping Google photos in a folder. If you edit a photo and choose ‘save as’ or use an editing method* that requires you to do a ‘save copy’ the new photo won’t be included in the folder. You can, however, just swipe up on the photo and choose add to album and most likely your _GMA will be the first choice.
*Using the Dynamic correction, magic eraser, unblur, or sharpen functions require you to save the edited photo as a copy.
Part 5: Video and explanation of moving photos to the Archive
This video shows me selecting 3 photos and moving them to archive. I am in my main photo stream when doing this and that is why they disappear. If I was in my Google Maps Album they would not disappear.
Thanks for posting details on your upload Workflow via Google Photos.
I also upload all my Google Maps photos via Google Photos. It gives me access to lots of editing tools in Google Photos.
I use the photo order in my all photos folder to guide the order in which I upload the photos to Google Maps. And I follow this order very carefully because it helps me not to skip any and not upload any duplicates.
Thanks for drawing my attention to the star-markings in Google Photos and the functionality of the archive. Honestly, I was not aware of the difference between deleting and archiving photos. Thanks.
Would you care to explain in short what you are using the star marking and the archiving for? Is it simply to keep track of which photos you have uploaded?
When I do a 200 pic photo walk I suffer under doing a ton of scrolling to reach the next image to upload. Maybe using the albums and archiving will make this process more smooth. But don’t you have to click at least one extra time to reach the _GMA album?
Thanks for reading my post and for your questions.
‘Would you care to explain in short what you are using the star marking and the archiving for?’
The star marking is for three purposes.
Initially, it lets me see which photos I have decided to edit when looking through my camera roll. If I decide not to edit it or do a ‘save copy’ then I remove the star.
The second purpose t lets me see which photos I have decided to upload when looking through my camera roll.
The third purpose is so that I can tell which photos I actually did upload, to avoid duplicating in case I decide to go back and add more photos.
Often, I don’t get to editing or uploading photos the same day that I took them. By moving uploaded or reviewed photos to the archive, I only see photos that need reviewing in my main photo stream.
'But don’t you have to click at least one extra time to reach the _GMA album? ’
Yes, you do, but only once for all selected photos. I use an Android phone and a Windows PC. On the phone you can select several photos and then add them all at one time to the album; so yes there is one extra click. If all the photos from a day are for Maps, after you select one you have the option to select all photos from that day.
Although I usually add photos to the album on my phone, I find it is actually easier to do it on my desktop, because of the shift-click or ctrl-click selection function.
This question got me thinking about the extra click. I just added a shortcut to my PC desktop for my Google Maps Album, so I can go directly there.
I found this article about adding a Google Photo Album shortcut to my phone’s desktop. It did work, but I had to turn off wi-fi in addition to going into airplane mode.
Thanks for your further explanations, @Rednewt74 .
I strive to take only one photo of each place. When I take 2 or 3 photos I try to delete the not needed clicks as early in the upload workflow as possible.
So I don’t need the special album, the archiving and the star markings - I think. But I now understand how it can be helpful. And I will explore further if an album can free me from scrolling so much.
First, let me declare that I deliberately do NOT use Google Photos. In my work as a Gmail Product Expert in the Google Help Communities, I see too many users who are unable to use email because their photos have used up all their Google storage quota. My wife and children are also a testament to that hard fact.
My phone’s photos automatically sync with DropBox and Microsoft’s OneDrive, but I actually work direct from my Samsung Gallery app. Your post has caused me to look deeper into the gallery to see if there are any comparable Star or Archive features, along with further thought as to if I should be making greater use of the Album feature.
My quantity of photos at any moment in time is certainly a lot less than yours, so perhaps that makes a difference. Will consider your points as I function over the next few days.
@MortenCopenhagen I continue to be fascinated by your concept of a “photo walk”. That 200 pic example is amazing, and the 50 pic reference by @Rednewt74 is quite admirable too. My routine is much more opportunistic - something catches my attention and I grab my phone for a quick photo or two. That might be my only Maps photo for the day or even the whole week. I also have some scenarios where I deliberately go after a photo after discovering the place is not on Maps, has photos that don’t properly depict the place on Maps, or needs new photos on Maps after a significant change has taken place at the location. Then I return with that photo, or photos of that one place and edit if necessary and upload it.
It was a bit different after my two recent overseas trips. Tried to get as many photos as possible of every location visited. Then I went through them when I returned home and tried to separate the good from the bad. Maybe that would’ve been an opportunity for the tools or functions highlighted in this post.
The other driver in all this is Google’s knowledge of everywhere I go, and where I am when I take every photo. It isn’t long before the pop-ups come with indications of what photos I should upload, and which places I should review. But I’ve become a lot more discerning now when I follow or reject those prompts.
I totally get not using Google photos. I’ve had a Pixel phone ever since they came out and so storage hasn’t been such an issue; but with the changes they’ve made regarding what gets free storage and me shooting a lot of 4k video, I recently went from 100GB to 200GB. I’m a sucker for the integration, but I do know a lot of people run into storage issues.
To be honest I not sure how helpful the Google Maps album will turn out to be.
The issues:
The step of adding them.
Remembering to add ‘save a copy’ photos
You can’t edit photos directly from in the album (or least I haven’t figured out how to do it).
And lastly, in the album you can’t tell which photos are archived.
For me the archiving feature has been a godsend, because as I go through the main photo stream , I only see photos that I haven’t done anything with. It’s become 2nd nature to me to edit, star, upload to Maps, and immediately move all the photos of that location into the archive. Just yesterday I noticed a photo from 3 weeks ago in my stream that I hadn’t edited or uploaded.
I’m trying to become more disciplined about deleted bad and duplicate shots right away.
As to the number of photos. I love your av view/ photo of 20,000 +, and I have made that my goal. So far I have reduced my photo quantity by almost 28% and have raised my per view number from just over 9,000 to just over 13,000. I had been adding photos willy-nilly for 6 years.
@tony_b , 50 photos at one time or on one day for maps would be highly unusual for me. It might happen when I’m traveling and come across 2 or 3 new coffee shops or other POI. I’ve only taken one " @MortenCopenhagen inspired" photo walk so far and I think I got 10 photos. Copenhagen has over 600,000 people and my town has 12,000. One of MortenCopenhagen’s walks would practically cover every business we have. !
My oldest photos are dated 2019. Apart from any deletions I did in recent months, a quick count indicates that my total for the COVID years 2020 to 2022 together is less than my 2019 figure. My photos for the 5 months of 2023 so far are almost equal to all of 2019, so this should be my biggest year yet.
Regarding photo opportunities - not much is new on an island of 430 sq km compared to a big city in larger countries. I watch the construction of new restaurants or other places of interest and try to be the first to photograph them and add them to the map. I use Google Maps for almost everywhere I go, even when I already know where to find the place. This sometimes alerts me that the place is actually NOT on the map, so I fix that. It also gives me an indication of existing photos of the place and creates a determination to add a better photo where necessary.
You commented on the population of your town compared to the city that @MortenCopenhagen lives in, but I think I do better at home. I was disappointed with the results of my two recent overseas trips. Apart from the awkwardness of trying to be a good LG photographer while in the company of my hosts, I also think there are some interesting reasons why the view count is low:
Smaller Island - local population seems to spend less time viewing Google Maps, and the quantity or quality of tourists is different to my own country.
Big City - my photos are just lost between those of other millions of people posting similar photos, so chances of being #1 or in the Top 10 are slim.
I did have one success story in each of the two places, but that’s not good considering that photos were taken across a number of properties on each trip.
Don’t dump your Google Maps Album idea yet. Everyone has a different workflow or modus operandi, and that seems to be working for you. If my volume of photographs increases significantly, I may have to implement different strategies as well.
!