Hey Travel lovers,
Being a Sailor, exploring sea… i wish adding the positions of offshore installations, mooring buoys for ships and boats under port control authorities in google maps, which may stand as a very usefull references for the fellow sailors.
Can somebody help me with ,How to get address or streets in mids seas, what category should be selected. Various attempts of me were resulting in failure of such additions.
Awaiting some usefull tips 
Keep smiling and spread smiles 
Hi @Elaa
Unfortunately you cannot add these offshore structures to the map as there is no category available (in English at least) in the category dropdown menu such as navigation buoys and radars, oil rigs, oil platforms, wind turbines and the like - that is why you have them rejected (‘‘not applied’’), also because there is no address available (apart from e.g. ‘‘Irish Sea’’ or ‘‘Adriatic Sea’’ that appears automatically) that can be added in the address field.
There are however categories such as ‘‘wind farm’’ and ‘‘electrical sub-station’’ that can also be located offshore these days such as this (published and located in the UK waters) but I don’t think Google accepts their addition any more due to the reasons above.
You can create, however, you own map (see here) adding as many offshore structure as you wish and view it later under Your Places → Maps or add labels with the mobile phone Maps app and view it later under Your Places → Labeled.
Hey Hi @FintoCubano , Its really so nice of you for such an detailed answer. I really appreciate that. Infact i already knew thal we can have places marked in list and even could be shared , but i felt it will be so nice if it could be added for public views. Lets see if google comes out with some procedures for it. Stay connected 
& Stay smiling
While there is no mooring buoys category, you can try to add them using a different relevant category, such as Hotel, since the buoys can be rented from port authorities or who ever controls them for people to stay at in their boats, you can also use phone number and website for the group that control the buoys. I would give this a try, and if you are not accepted, I would continue to try maybe with small changes, such as the location name, which I would suggest start with the name of the group controlling the buoys, for example something like: “Mumbai Port Authority East Cove Mooring Buoys”, or something like that that is relevant and associated with the buoys or structures you are trying to add and include the group that control them. As for getting the address, use the “add a missing location” feature in satellite view and position the pointer over the structure you want to add if you can find it on the map, or position it where you think they are, you could also use latitude and longitude of the buoys.
Guys, talking from experience, I would refrain from adding these ‘‘buoys’’ as ‘‘hotels’’ since Maps would not apply them (as per the reasons above - missing category and not really similar categories, missing address being offshore) and, moreover, you risk compromising your edit trust with the algorithm for future edits.
Regarding the categories, while some moderators in this forum suggest to use the most relevant category from the list if the category you want to use is missing, other say that the exact category must be used. In doubt, check the Maps guidelines for what makes a good edit.
If you wish, you may also try and ask on the Maps Help Forum (New Topic → I’d like to → suggest a new feature; My topic is → map information) to add these structure and see if the Google team escalate the request.
Hi , Thanks for your involvement.
But @FintoCubano stands logical here. Adding right info than compromising is more important i feel.
On the other hand , I tried also with categories like port operations or port operating company and enterred all relevant details of phone number and websites too. Even then the results turned out negative.
Thats what made me create this discussion here.
Hope more people may involve to get a probable solution
@Elaa I guess that the lack of an address may be the reason for the ‘‘not applied’’ to your edits offshore. @BruceDM and @Flash may have a view on that and can provide you with a clearer explanation.
Hello @Elaa ,
I would not just be the lack of an address, but rather @FintoCubano was correct when he first said that saling navigational aids are not features that can be added to the map. Maps of such devices should be obtained from official sources to ensure the are accurate and up to date.
The lack of an address would cause an issue, but another issue is that all features must have a proper name (not a description) and an appropriate category. If you cannot find an appropriate category that’s often an indication that the feature is not mappable.
Additionally, unstaffed places are not mappable with a few specific exceptions. Buoys and similar features would not be allowed on the map just like vending machines and mailboxes are not permitted.
Please always use caution with your categories. Just as Hotel is not appropriate, categories like port operations and port operating company should just be used for their actual staffed business location, not for wherever their equipment sits.
As already mentioned, this is the sort of feature that would be best mapped on a custom map.
I would say hotel would be appropriate, if he is talking about mooring buoys, not navigation aids. mooring buoys for sailors, are permanent buoys, that are owned and maintained by a staff and are rented to sailboats, by the owners, such as a marina or yacht club or city or park office. Just like an RV park for vehicles, or a hotel for a traveler, mooring buoys are rented for traveling sailboats and the people on them to stay at, like a hotel, or hostel, or RV park, camp ground, etc should be in a category like Hotel, which is a “category” that includes many sorts of similar use places such as, “people pay to stay there,” not just a single type of place.
Apparently you can not add a lat - long as an address, to add a missing place on the water. But you can like said by others make a private map and use lat and lon. to set the marker on your map. by entering it into the search box like: 26°13’02.0"N 80°05’01.7"W or: 26.217233, -80.083800 either lat lon format is acceptable for a search location.
If you are a sailor, it is far more common to add locations like this onto your onboard GPS chart plotter or a hand held marine GPS, then a mobile phone or laptop, though I think there are gps navigation apps and nav charts available that would be much better suited for this.
@TimB_2 , “Hotel” as a category is only appropriate when the place is a hotel.
You are approaching this trying to find some way to get something on the map that has no appropriate category. You need to look at it instead from the point of view of usability of the map. When someone wanting to stay in the area searches for a hotel, they should only be presented with hotels.
Also for consideration, places for sale or rent are not permitted on the map; but rather the sales or rental office can be mapped if it meets all the other requirements to be on the map, such as having a storefront that is staffed during regular business hours to accept walk in customers. So even if navigational aids could be added (which they can’t), mooring buoys that can be rented or purchased would not be allowed. Hotels are permitted only because the place you can rent a room (the front desk) is onsite. RV parks are only permitted because they to have the rental desk onsite. The phrasing Google uses is the exception to the no rental rule is that the can be added only if they have onsite management.
To be clear, though, in case someone comes across this; that does not then permit AirBnB style listings. The only homes that can be listed are actual B&Bs.
If mooring buoys are rented via a staffed storefront then you can map that storefront.
That makes sense, good response.
Hi @Elaa as you can see there is at least a suitable category for buoys: https://goo.gl/maps/ztsYpE6Mz872 (I’ve NOT added this place, but it’s really useful for sailors like me when approaching the area without any other cartographic aids).
In English this POI category is “Boat Storage Facility”
Facility denotes a structure and associated items for storing boats . Morrings or Bouys are not storage as when you’re using a boat you’re not storing it. So it’s not an appropriate category to be used. @FintoCubano was on the money with this one.
HI @Andrew_Sawyer thanks for pitching in 
I’ve reported just one example in real world where this category is used for buoys. Sometimes the term “storage” does not mean exactly “included in a building”, and these buoys field could be booked, they have a phone number and management, so I think that is a nice way to improve maps. But, as sailor, I have to admit that Google Maps is not exactly the right tool for navigation purposes.
We are all here to improve the maps, and increase the usability and utility worldwide.
Maps is full of spammy entries we all work to remove; I think that there is something really good in adding buoys facilities to maps. These are real entries, and definetively mappable (expecially when they belong to an organization with a phone number and a booking system, as it’s always, for the biggest buoys fields).
I can’t imagine arguments against adding useful and real POIs to map, if we don’t want to talk again about trust level, maps integrity, database coherence, Google cloud, Google Spanner etc. etc.
Sincerely, with great appreciation for your work, have a nice day guys, and happy GUIDING and MAPPING.
Well as a sailor you would know that the purpose of the category you propose is when the boat is being stored out of water so that it’s not immediately available as opposed to mooring or docking a boat. Sometimes Google doesn’t want to map things and this is most likely one of those situations.
Not necessarily a boat should be “recovered” in a covered housing. And sometimes Google Maps simply needs a suggestion for new categories, suggestions that are not taken in charge from standard feedback, as we all know. Fair winds (and calm seas)!
Not necessarily a boat should be “recovered” in a covered housing
To use that category they need to be. That category definitely should not be used to try to get a feature that breaks so many different rules of the map onto the map. Even a new category wouldn’t help; since, as already stated, buoys and navigation aids have many other reasons why they would not be permitted beyond the lack of an appropriate category. We need to be clear that someone should not be attempting to work around the rules of the map to add such a feature; that could put someone’s account in jeopardy.
@Flash , @Andrew_Sawyer , @TimB_2
Thanks for your valuable involvement guys.
I have already tried most of the points as mentioned by you all. And the only honest intention of starting this discussion is to know, how to get this unmappable things mapable, how to get Such world wide navigational map utility for my fellow seamen too, which could be a reference during coastal navigation…?!!
Yes Mr @Flash , you are right, that such sea related stuff are custommable and present in onboard plotting aids. But My intention as a google local guide is to get this custom Map accessable to public, as a part of improving the utility to more users.
As everybody was saying, Mr. @LucioV ’ s Boat storage facility is not the right category, and its again a nearly reasonable category, and google has seemingly to have accepted it at some offshore facilities. Hence, i would like to appreciate his involvement.
But together as local guides our whole intention is to get the right category and solution for the discussion if available, and a way to get it to Google’s notice.
Stay connected & stay smiling
Hi @Elaa ,
google has seemingly to have accepted it at some offshore facilities.
Every edit made to the map cannot be checked to be 100% correct. For everything not allowed on the map you will find examples of it somewhere added either by mistake or maliciously, thus you can’t use finding something on the map as proof it’s allowed to be on the map.
And to be clear, Lucio’s example is located on land in a building. I took it to be either a dry land storage facility or the offices of the place that rents out bouys, either of which is mappable if it’s a staffed location.
Hi @Flash ,
I personally feel these criteria of staffed locations is a mirrage , the ATM centers are all not manned, public loos are all not manned. But yes they are in land and people may need to reach there and google may be a tool.to find them.
In the same way, my point is y not these offshore points to be mapped.
If getting them mapped is a milestone on this applications progress, i feel we all must think how it can be done in a prosperous way. 