Hello, my name is Vincent, also known as @IByteNL online. I am a software developer from the Netherlands. I have been a contributor to Google Maps for a couple of years now. In addition to adding new places and submitting data corrections, I like to add at least one picture to as many places as I can. It is often more descriptive than the auto-generated Google Street View shot. I can see they’re being used as well: the over 2000 photos I added have gathered more than 18.6 million views in total. It is not always clear why some photos are viewed more than others, though.
When travelling, I also like to add name translations. For instance, I often visit the Czech Republic, and it’s probably easier for tourists if a building is shown as e.g. “Municipal council” next to “Obecní úřad”. I speak a bit of Czech, so I’ll add things like that to the map. I also speak Dutch and English, so I’d like to add all of these translations, but the current version of Google Maps does not allow me to do that. I’ve submitted a feature suggestion for it here:
LGC Idea: Be able to enter/translate POI names in more than two languages
When travelling, you also have the chance to see nice things, of course, and I enjoy photography. I add pictures from those collections as well. (Another hobby of mine, Geocaching, also gets you to a lot of places. It is a world-wide game involving using a GPS receiver (or smartphone capable of that) to visit hidden containers. Google for more information if you’re interested.)
A small selection of nice pictures I’ve added:
