As Google Maps is getting more users, local guides, places listed daily, the problem to keep it safe and spam free is going to be more difficult day by day.
I am from Meerut, India and there was a Hindu festival last Sunday (26th Aug 2018). On this day, Sister tie a band (Rakhi) on her brother’s wrist.
But, I am sharing a screenshot below in which a sister is tieing a band on brother’s wrist and then she uploaded this photo to my Google listing on Google Maps.
My listing may be a software company/shop/mall or anything else. But why??
If you are owner of this business (POI), then in Google Maps, go to Overview, and select “Claim this business” and do the formalities to claim that POI, so then you can control it well, with reference to many such issues.
@ShaniDeshwal yes this is a big concern, nowadays we people manually can’t remove pictures that is spam
Google Maps must come with any solution for this
I would like to say it is Google intention to have more samples for artificial intelligence .
Image recognition , it ask for product , food etc .
Points are given for as many photos
I am taking a photo of a Business or location but it is in one state or country .
Instead of putting the place name I can add the photo to a state or country .I have seen profile with major photos contributed to state of a country so the views for those photos are more than putting it to one small place or town .Be smart .
GPS enabled photos are not given any waitage . Even what’s app video are accepted for a location .
Google is not putting artificial intelligence to screen the contents . It will happen once a competitor enters the market with Genuine information .
Search on key words on map .
You will find the real spammers
Example - Digital Marketing , Hotel Booking , holidays packages , coaching centre , etc
@ShaniDeshwal - Thank you for sharing your feedback. For the most part, indications are that people are not out there looking to intentionally spam listings with irrelevant photos and there are many filters in place to protect against inappropriate items and this includes your own ability to flag a photo as inappropriate through Google Maps. We are constantly looking for new ways to improve the spam filters while also empowering users to be able to more easily report inappropriate content. We appreciate your comments!
I think @BruceDM is right on suggesting that this is often not intentional spamming, but rather by accident when people get the suggestion to upload a picture to Maps, @ShaniDeshwal .
Hello @VijayDesai , business owners can’t remove pictures, even if the business is claimed (which is the case here if I interpret the screenshot by @ShaniDeshwal correctly.
@ShaniDeshwal I have seen a lot of listings facing similar issues and these are not taken care by Google Maps team. LGs are told to just report the pictures which isn’t a solution as the number of useless pictures (and now videos too) is just too much and it’s increasing like anything.
This is a very valid issue which you are highlighting and people need to be more careful when they are uploading pictures or they get auto upload/link the personal pictures from the Google photos to map as default options.
Example - Digital Marketing, Hotel Booking, holidays packages, coaching center, etc these are the top spammers on Google Maps.
One more thing, there is term famous in the market that is Google Mapping people charge for this service to show client’s business on top from anywhere. They do some spam activities on Google Maps and they do is successful.
#Google must work on this issue as soon as possible otherwise there will be more spam listings than real
My personal observation mirrors your comments, e.g. people are not generally intentionally uploading irrelevant photos to places and listings. And it is also true that the tools to provide feedback for irrelevant photos exist. But this is where I think there is a serious issue with the current status quo.
I would think that everyone would agree that there are more photos than anything else - e.g. the number of “items” in the system are photos, not reviews, or listings etc. And with Google’s encouragement for more people to participate and contribute, this will grow exponentially. However, from personal experience, the major issue is that the Google Maps system slows down the review and provision of feedback on irrelevant/abusive photos.
I’ll explain: the first several photos you provide feedback on are relatively straight forward. However, after the first several photos the system starts asking the user providing the feedback to solve Captcha puzzles, like select all pictures of storefronts in the matrix of pictures presented in the Captcha puzzle, for each feedback you are trying to submit. In some cases you have to solve more than one Captcha for a single photo feedback.
I guess there must have been a problem in the past for Google to implement this, but the net effect is that it prevents any meaningful volume review of photos for a listing, much less several listings. If a listing has several hundred photos it is near impossible. In my personal case, I just gave up reviewing photos because it was just too time consuming, nor is there any “reward” for doing this. Far easier to check the facts or any number of other activities that accomplish something and provide some positive reinforcement. I feel sorry for the owner (if they have claimed the listing) of the listing though.
So the “things” there are the most of in the system, which have the biggest potential for irrelevance or abuse, get the least oversight and review because of the difficulty in doing it, and which provide no reward for anyone volunteering to do it. This is the weakest link in the system in my opinion. I guess if it gets bad enough Google will do something about it
people charge for this service to show client’s business on top from anywhere. They do some spam activities on Google Maps and they do is successful.