How-To Summarize the LG & SV program policies and guidelines

[OmerAli]

Last week we had a very extensive discussion session on one of our private HO groups and the topic under debate was
“Local Guides Program & Street View Trusted Photography”.

This post is a little different (from rest of the How-Tos) and that’s what makes it twisted:

1. I am trying to summarize the discussion we had (our views, a general understanding of the policies) - (Errors & omissions excepted in my summary)
2. I will try to come up with GAPs (will fire some questions) and hopefully will get answers from Googlers (Official Policies- thus making it a proper How- To program policy guide)

This sounds fine, what makes you think its twisted?

1. Well, if you follow along, you will find out that we will be discussing LG program policies as well as Trusted Street View Photography policies in parallel ? (The reason why this is posted in Open forum instead of SVTP forum)
2. Because there are practices and then there are policies. We all work for a bigger cause and try our best to do the right thing BUT, as there are
   strict policies and guidelines set by Google, we would like to follow them exactly, as it is (therefore, need some clarification from Googlers)

OK, hang on, Is this post really relevant to me? Should I be concerned?

1. Absolutely, because you are part of Google Local Guides program.
2. Whether you are a trusted Street View Photographer or still thinking about making your first move, YOU need to have a clear understanding of the inter-related program policies

Why this post? There must be policies everywhere on Google website?

1. Well, First off, the policies and guidelines seem very complex (specially for non-native English speakers)
2. They are also intertwined, so we need to paint a picture to get clear concise answers
3. Finally, we believe there are some overlaps and gap areas & perhaps this post will help to extract the information from the experts, which will help the community to have a clear understanding of program objectives VS policies

Here’s a scenario that most of us can relate to and was brought up during our discussion session.

Scenario:
The scenario is roughly based on the following attributes of a Local Guide who is:
A. An active Local Guide on Maps and LocalGuidesConnect Community
B. Also a Trusted StreetView Photographer (Available for Hire)
C. An Individual LG and Trusted SV photographer who does not represent any company or intermediary agency
D. A Local Guide using a single ID for contributions (same Gmail ID for Maps, Street View and LocalGuidesCommunity)
E. Having an offer to take-up 360 paid projects for Businesses (under SVTP program)
F. An Individual LG who wishes to manage his/her as well as paid project’s content

Discussions:
All Local Guides (part of the LG & SV program) roughly know the bare minimum:
1). Program Policies (for both LG & SV)
2). Eligibility Requirements
3). Code of Conduct

Therefore, our discussions were primarily based in view of the Scenario we presented above in a more practical approach to get some DOs and DONTs.

All the general contributions by a Local Guide are/should always be free, original work and shall not carry any benefits or contributions from the businesses that we review or contribute for. Same is true for SV Local Guides who are yet to reach Trusted and Available for Hire levels.

For a Trusted Street View Photographer, Google allows us to take up paid projects but, getting paid is subjective to policies and regulations we need to be aware of. The best strategy is to go FREE and ideally it should be OK as per policies (But, we still are unsure about the content management).
For a paid project, specially when your client is not tech savvy and cannot maintain his/her business presence, the policies/practices become overly complicated.
Therefore, I summarized few questions based on our discussion (LGs, welcome to add more questions and I will update the post accordingly).

Here’s what’s troubling us:

1. If we decide to take a paid 360 project, what are the bare minimum policy requirements for it?
2. Are we supposed to make a formal contract for the paid project?
3. Do we have any official Google Contract Template Available for the paid project?
4. If we don’t, are there any policy guidelines present to design our own contract?
5. For a paid project, who owns the content? (The LG or the business)
6. Are we allowed to Upload the 360 photos or videos on that Business’s behalf?
7. If we are allowed to Upload the content, is it wise to use the same LG ID that we use primarily for our contributions?
8. What’s Google’s take on multiple IDs (e.g. One for LG program & SV) and one for (perhaps paid street view work)?
9. If we have previously reviewed that business or place (contributed photos and videos etc).Is it OK if we take a paid project of the same
   business while leaving the previous contributions on Maps?
10. The biggest mistake to avoid while taking paid projects?
11. Could we please get a clear view on paid projects remuneration?

Let’s hope to hear from the Googlers on this issue and I am pretty sure that we will get it all covered.
I will update the post once/if we get an official response from Googlers and the Question section could then later be referred to as Question/Answers section.
I will also try to come up with an easy to master info-graphic to sum these policies up (if allowed to do so)

Special Thanks to @KarenVChin for hearing me out and always going an extra mile to help me.
Also, Big thanks to @YK1001 , @JulienH and @AdrianLunsong for there knowledge, time and experience that actually started this discussion.
Tagging @NadyaPN for help, please

Cheers

P.S.
The scenario, questions asked, best practices discussed and program policy requests were only raised (based on our understanding) to get the Official answers. We, engaged in this discussion only to find the right answers and in no way propound our thoughts that might go against the program policies.

[JulienH]

/bump. We should have a simple and clear guide for this that is easily understandable and complied with.

It will be very helpful.

Ease of use and clarify will go a long way towards increasing the activity of Local Guides in helping their local businesses and increasing synergy between our passion and Google Maps / GMB.

I observe an increasing amount of confusion, fear, and angst due to the emotional and time investment of LGs in their contribution/profiles/levels/points, the seemingly common complaints of sudden unexplained bans, general opaqueness of Google (not just LG) bans and customer service, and in this instance too the uncertain overlap of policies that @OmerAli has pointed out. As some of the early adopters of any new LG initiatives, community influencers, we want to provide an accurate and appropriate advice to our members to help them, Google Maps, and local businesses grow.

As LG increases in stature, publicity, importance and influence, from a tiny project to millions of LGs, it attracts more attention, new policies, and new questions that has not come up before. SV and LG are two important programs in the Maps/Geo division that we all love and have lots of interrelatedness.

[StephenAbraham]

@OmerAli many specific questions that only Google can provide the official answers to. Answers from the rest of us cannot be taken as official replies.

Some of the questions have been asked before. And the usual link that most queries gets link to will be the Local Guides rules, as well as this link

https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Street-View-Trusted-Photographer-program-FAQs/m-p/48439/highlight/true#M119918

From this link, the post expands a little on the sentence in the Local Guides rules

"Isn’t Local Guides a program where we are not paid to help contribute to Google Maps? With the Street view trusted photographer, that seems to go against the policy of Local Guides

Please read the guidelines on participating in Local Guides here. If you offer services for hire (such as marketing yourself as a Street View trusted provider), you are not allowed to bundle such services with your Local Guide membership."

I was under the impression (and I might be highly inaccurate to say this) that as long as one doesn’t bundle in services with the Local Guides membership, ie, we cannot say “If you hire me, I will give you a good review as a Local Guide”, then it should be fine? I can’t be certain, so, we will need a reply from Google.

@ErmesT Was there another updated link on recommendations on how to provide Street View services as a Local Guide? I was looking but wasn’t able to locate it.

[OmerAli]

Thanks @StephenAbraham for your reply. Infact, that’s what we all struggle with.

Yes, there are sort-of official guidelines, but its almost next to impossible to draw information out of it.

So, I thought of presenting a scenario by which (if answered) we could all get all the pointers.

I had a completely different understanding of Bundled offers and thanks to @YK1001 and @JulienH I got a better understanding of it. With your reply, I think its crystal clear now so perhaps we are done with one question already

cheers

[StephenAbraham]

@OmerAli We should wait for Google to provide the official detailed interpretation of the sentence. My reply is only the way I interpret it, which makes it only my opinion unfortunately.

[OmerAli]

Yep, I’m going to wait as long as it takes

but still, thanks a lot brother for your input

cheers

[ErmesT]

Thank you for asking @StephenAbraham . Yes, there is an updated document accessible to all the SVTP

I am not sharing the link here because is available ONLY to SVTP, but the post is clearly visible, pinned on the top of the board.

I also believe that a conversation about SVTP policies should be more appropriate in a specific board. It is just my opinion, of course, so I will tag @NadyaPN for a better feedback

[OmerAli]

Thanks for the clarification @ErmesT

The policy guideline answers around 5 of the questions , but I am hoping if we could get a complete response that will help us greatly.

Thanks for bringing her onboard, I’m sure we’ll get to hear the official reply soon

cheers

[Dr_Mohh]

Dear @OmerAli

This is just a quick one, I just came in to Malaysia, and I would like us to meet. Please, kindly WhatsApp me via my contact.

Looking forward to hear from you soon.

Best regards,

Mohammad

[ErmesT]

Hi @Dr_Mohh

For your privacy, please remove your contact detail. You can send a private message to @OmerAli instead

Thank you

[Dr_Mohh]

Okay, thank you.

[Dhanasekaran_Muthu]

@OmerAli Many of the Local Guides and the prospective Street View Trusted Photographers will pose such 11 questions in their mind and just for the sake of avoiding a situation of controversy and/or for the lack of a language to formulate these question they still wait to see the developments in the policies on its own and consequential guidelines.

As Stephen Abraham as Google moderator clarified that we (LGs) " are not allowed to bundle such services with your Local Guide membership"

while the guidelines is indicated in the question :

"Isn’t Local Guides a program where we are not paid to help contribute to Google Maps?

With the Street view trusted photographer, that seems to go against the policy of Local Guides"

and that his “Answer … cannot be taken as official replies”

So, it is a matter of time till we get the official reply for the benefit of the several Local Guides who may be interested.
Please update as soon as a reply to these questions are received / clarified.

As for me it will be a free voluntary service even after registering as SVTP.

@StephenAbraham