I love adding missing places on Maps

__As a break from compiling leaderboards, here is my local story…__Like hundreds of millions of others, I really enjoy being a Local Guide and making my small contribution to our world, a global village. However, without any doubt, the thing that I enjoy most about being a Local Guide, is searching out those missing places on Maps and doing my best to get them on the Map. This could simply be a small café or restaurant that has existed for a while, or a new business that has just started off. In these tough economic times, these businesses need a helping hand and not only that, helping others in the local community know about such places is a real win-win.

So being a bit of numbers nerd (like many others here), for sometime now I’ve been monitoring the impact that I have been making on such “missing businesses”, and like hundreds of other Local Guides that use the Top 100 Local Guides System, I’ve also been using this system but in this instance, from a slightly different angle, to monitor the impact of my additions of missing places on Maps and this is what this post is about. More specifically, I want to share with you a brief snapshot of the impact that this side of my Local Guide contributions has been having.

I started recording this dataset back on September 30, 2020 when the views on the places I added was 34,000,000. However, for brevity’s sake, here in the table below, I will only show some 10 data records which is enough to demonstrate the data trend and impact of my adding missing places on Maps.

Date No of missing
places added
Views on the
places added
Nov 9, 2021 566 66,000,000
Nov 23, 2021 566 67,000,000
Mar 8, 2022 584 79,000,000
Mar 29, 2022 585 81,500,000
Jun 14,2022 591 91,500,000
Jul 5, 2022 592 94,000,000
Aug 2, 2022 594 98,500,000
Aug 16, 2022 594 100,000,000
May 16, 2023 603 150,000,000
? 604 200,000,000

Firstly, with so many Local Guides out there, I’m sure that you like me are finding that adding new places onto the Map is getting much harder. I’ve certainly found this to be the case in recent times and the first chart below showing a flattening off trendline, clearly demonstrates this. For example, by early-August 2022 I had added 594 missing places on Maps and as I write today, I have added 604 missing places, so that’s only 10 new places in the past 9 months! Of course there have been a number of major factors like COVID that have not only impacted on businesses but also my ability to travel as widely as I have been able to in the past but nonetheless the trendline of finding and adding missing places has been flattening!

However, notwithstanding this, I still find it amazing, in fact fascinating, that the places I have added on Maps continue to attract so many views. As you can see from the summary table above, by 16 August 2022 the 594 missing places I added on Maps attracted 100 million views (see also 100,000,000 views on the places you’ve added) which is an average of 168,350 views per place added! Again there is an apparent flattening of the numbers in the main COVID period but things look like they might be shooting up once again. Let’s hope so!

Now on 16 May, 2023, that’s some 9 months later, this figure has grown to 150 million which is an average of 248,756 views per place added. That’s an increase of some 80,400 views per place added on Maps over the 9 months or an average of 8,934 views per place per month. Now keep in mind here that I’m talking about views for the missing places I’ve added on maps and not the total contribution views which today is 595 million! Therefore, 25% of the views are coming from the missing places I’ve added on Maps!!!

I’ve said this many times before, we don’t get points for views, however, knowing that on average each of the missing places I’ve added on Maps have had some 248,756 views and that every single view has potentially helped someone make a decision, such as whether a place is worth visiting or a meal is worth having, while nothing to do with points, I find this side of being a Local Guide very, very satisfying.

  • Do you love adding missing places on Maps? If so, we’d love to hear from you.
  • Would you like to hear how I go about finding missing places on Maps? If so, wait for my next post on this topic.
  • Are you perhaps also a data nerd that can show an interesting view of your missing places added data? If so we’d all love to hear from you.
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@AdamGT Thanks for the post.

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That’s an incredible amount of unmarked places to find, @AdamGT ! I’ve been hunting in order to get my Master Trailblazer badge knocked out, and that only requires 50.

It’d be nice to know the breakdown by place. When I’m less on the anonymous kick and really trying to help a store/shop/restaurant I like, I can show them how many views that pictures of their place have gotten. Imagine if you could pop into one of these places and let them know you scored them that much exposure just because of your hobby.

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Very noble thoughts and execution @AdamGT .

Wonder how do you capture such views data against newly added missing places.

I too love to add missing places and frequently do it as I come across. But this is interesting to learn how to capture and maintain views data against these added places

Overall view data is available in Google map but not for the newly added places.

JAI HO!!!

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Amazing numbers @AdamGT I too love to find brand new places or even POI’S that have been missed,

My Numbers 185 new places added and 30,500,000 views

Congrats my friend ( I think you would lead this leaderboard)

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Yes missing places on Maps are certainly hard to find @JustJake and as I’ve mentioned in my post, and as you can expect with so many more Local Guides out there these days, they are becoming even harder to find. But having said that, they are there and you just have to be the first Local Guide to find them and of course from thereafter, you rack up the views on these gems. I will write a follow up post on how I find these missing places.

Hehehe, you say “It’d be nice to know the breakdown by place” well yes nice indeed and I have been working on the data side to be able to also write a post on this! Great minds think alike Jake :joy: :rofl: It’s coming! I know I said this once before, but under time constraints of so many other things, it has long slipped some. If I only had time!

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Thank you for your comment @Kumaarsantosh and you ask a very good question but believe it or not, the answer is staring right at you in my post. Let me explain because there’s a little secret, yes there’s a little bit more to it

Firstly, Google send out congrat emails indicating the aggregate views of the places I have added (see the cover image of my post). So now, as I mentioned in my post, being a bit of a data nerd like many others here, when I see data like this, I look at it in new ways and ask the question “what if”? So then, and here’s the secret, I add this data in a not yet released part of, you guessed it, the Top 100 Leaderboard System. The System then marries this up with the number of places added data we have in our Maps profile contribution data! So then from the aggregated data we can derive the average views per place added data. Of course we have to be careful when using averages but hey, in this case it certainly gives a darn good indication on the impact we are having on these otherwise missing places on the Map!

Now I know that by answering your question here I have let the cat out of the bag about this hidden feature on the Top 100 Leaderboard System. but like a number of other hidden features, yes there are others, it is a feature that is still in the experimental (beta) phase, planned for release to VIP users of the System at some future date.

I’m pleased to hear you say that you too love adding missing places. I see this in many ways like adding roads on Maps but to my mind in the current economic climate with so many businesses still struggling post COVID, I feel that adding missing places is right up there in terms of helping my community.

I hope my answer to your question motivates you in some way to keep adding missing places and to better manage the data side of this. Watch out for my forthcoming posts mentioned in my reply to @JustJake on the adding missing places topic

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Thank you @TerryPG , my data nerd friend you lol. I’m glad to hear that you too love adding new places. It’s a bit like the thrill of the chase. They’re out there but often harder to find.

Now you had17.5 million total views 109,000 views on average per place added back in September 2022 nd now you have 30.5 million views which means you’ve increased that average to 165,000 views per place added so without doubt, these numbers would put you on the leaderboard you mention Terry but I somehow don’t think I’d lead it. My instinct tells me that perhaps @user_not_found might be above us all but then again, let me take the opportunity of seeing if the likes of @Herve_Andrieu , @TorM , @jayasimha78 , @JordanSB , @abermans and @MortenCopenhagen et. al. can share data on this :wink: But then again, do we really want another leaderboard :money_mouth_face:

Hey Terry you data nerd you, don’t you just love the data!!!

Edited: I just had a thought! I wonder if this would be a useful feature and give us yet another interesting perspective on the countries leaderboards!!!

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@AdamGT That’s lot of views for places added, congratulations. For places added I have around 111Million views based on Google’s last email. However for this stats we have to depend on Google’s email, does not show up on our profile as far as I know. So monthly data gathering depends on google.

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@AdamGT I’m glad to have reached 10,000,000 total views, but it seems it would be a lot of manual labour trying to separate how many of those views are for newly added places. I don’t put a lot of effort into finding new places, but I usually switch Maps on if I’m driving to a place I haven’t previously visited. Occasionally this leads me to realize the place isn’t listed, so while there I try to get a few photos and gather as much information as possible, so I can add it later.

(By the way, someone on here said that pharmacies cannot be added, so I deliberately added two recently, just to prove it can be done).

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Thanks @jayasimha78 but hey you are definitely up there with 111 million views!!! Yes indeed you are right and as I mentioned in my reply to @Kumaarsantosh , for this stat we need to depend on Google’s email but we can still take advantage of this stat as I have shown in this post, and as explained in my reply to Santosh :wink:

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Hi @tony_b

If you carefully read my reply to @Kumaarsantosh and the comment by @jayasimha78 , you will see that it is actually quite easy and simple to separate how many of your views are for newly added places! However, it’s great to hear that while you don’t put a lot of effort into finding new places but when you do realize the place isn’t listed, you take a few photos, do some research and if possible add them later.

Regarding your comment that someone said that pharmacies cannot be added, from my understanding that’s misinformation. I myself have added pharmacies and hospitals from all over the world and in fact, some of these are among the missing places I have added on Maps!

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Thanks @AdamGT for your valuable explanation.

I have started compiling such data sheet separately from today. Thanks again for the guidance.

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Oh, not sure if we need so many kinds of Leaderboards as @AdamGT maintained.

My tricker for contributing will remain the total picture views.

This is what I see currently:

best regards from Germany

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Hi @AdamGT

You asked if we think there should be a new leaderboard for views of added places.

The fact that the status emails are not being sent consistently and they don’t always mention this metric is plenty of reason not to create another leaderboard.

But I’m dying to see how my views of added places are distributed over the places.

Cheers

Morten

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@AdamGT I think @MortenCopenhagen is correct about the inconsistency. I’ve searched my emails and I see where Google has congratulated me on “total view” milestones for all photos added, but not where those are separated for photos of new places added.

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That’s interesting @tony_b . I just checked and in my case I stopped receiving congrats emails for total photo views in September 2019 and then some time after that I started receiving congrats emails on views for places added on Maps. I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience!

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@AdamGT That’s amazing! Your dedication as a Local Guide to adding missing places on Maps is truly commendable. It’s wonderful to see how your contributions have made a significant impact, with an average of 248,756 views on each place you’ve added. Your efforts not only support local businesses but also help people make better and informed decisions. Being a Local Guide definitely feels special when you have astonishing views like that on such a few place added.

However what I feel at times that some places are being added automatically. I don’t know I could be wrong here. But I’m very curious about this. If some place exists and snapped by the street view but was never added by any LG. Will Google AI map that POI ? Street view still rolling out in India and I see lots of places being mapped awkwardly without aby reviews and photos near roads. I have struggled to add to some places but once they were ades i got staggering views. It’s been hard to find unmapped places tbh.

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Wow this is amazing @AdamGT to see the impact of your hard work! Love that detailed tracking as well. :couple_with_heart_woman_man:

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You are so right @AZ_2021 and @AdamGT 's work has been amazing and Impactful and remember us Data Nerds (New term from Adam) Have to stick together.

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