Have you ever wondered what happens to your contributions, volume, and reach when you add both a photo and a video to the same location?
Here’s the breakdown: You go out, take a great shot, and then record a short video of the place. When you upload them, here’s how your contributions and badges are affected:
Points: You earn a total of 12 points: 5 for the photo and 7 for the video.
Keep in mind that you receive separate counts for both, even though they are from the same location.
All Photos Section:
Your total media count increases by 2.
I haven’t tested 360-degree sphere photos yet, but I believe they will count under Photos and the Photography Badge. If you’ve already taken photos of places around you and think there’s nothing more you can do, consider shooting and uploading videos of those same places. They will be counted separately, and videos can generate good views, helping your overall numbers grow.
Why did I post this and does this even matter ?
Maybe it doesn’t matter to others, but to me it does. I don’t want to spam POIs (Points of Interest) with unnecessary photos and videos. Even if I did so in the past, I’ve removed a significant amount of media that could be considered poor quality or didn’t meet criteria.I prefer to see no more than 3-4 photos per place. If you’re curious about this, you can divide your total photos or videos (volume) by your reach. This ratio gives you a rough idea of how many photos you’ve added per place. The reach also shows how active you’ve been and how many different POIs you’ve contributed to.I’ve been tracking my progress for a long time on the Top100LocalGuide website. You can easily register here, to start tracking your stats summary and other metrics.
I think what you reported is consistent with what I expected. Did you expect something else?
I think it is worth mentioning that the guideline about not sharing redundant information probably cuts across media types. I have seen some Local Guides share short videos with pretty much the same content as their still image from the same place.
And sometimes the video adds nothing except maybe done audio. Same framing and no movement in the shot and no camera movements. That is in my view the negative side effects of the using gamification, points and badges. Adding videos when they contain nothing more than the still image is not helpful.
What do you think? How do you make videos different from your stills?
@MortenCopenhagen When they say all photos how many people think all photos means photos+ Video + Spheres ? And I don’t think they know video and photos are counted seperately for the reach section.
yeah spot on with video thing. It’s easier to take photos and than shooting videos in my opinion.When you are inside a premises it’s easier to take good video of something like a dish being served or an overview of the dining area or something being prepared because they know you are shooting something. But standing outside on busy road and hold the camera and shoot for 15 seconds can be awkwardly weird with poor outcome. I try my best to cover something important unless it’s not possible I end up with general overview video.
Now this is an interesting topic @Trail_blazer and I’ve often wondered how Local Guides handle this. Adding both a photo and video (12 points) purely for points and without consideration given to providing a better indication of one’s experience at a POI to my mind is short sighted and I’m with you and wouldn’t want to spam POIs with unnecessary photos ad videos.
Indeed the Leaderboard System’s automatically generated stats summary which is available to you as soon as you check and where necessary update your latest impact and reach numbers, makes it very easy to track your numbers.
@AdamGT Stats summary is an underused function of Top100Localguides. It easier to understand everything in just a glance and will serve better in future to new comers.
You might well be right @Trail_blazer , being a relatively new feature of the Leaderboard System, the Stats Summary might not as yet be a popular feature. Because of the scope of what it covers, like you obviously do, it is recommended that the Stats Summary be checked after any update.
@Trail_blazer@MortenCopenhagen I’m relatively new to video - 5 years of photos and less than 2 years of videos. My introduction to video was at a time when it was being stated that video on Maps was going to be the next big thing, and there were suggestions about doing comparisons. Typically I take a photo and a video of the exact same thing, so yes I’m guilty of redundancy as defined in your post. But initially it was for the purpose of seeing which would get most views, and I’ve continued doing it that way.
Most of my Maps work is outdoors, so the position of the sun impacts the situation. If I try to take the video and the photo from two different angles, one of them will likely be negatively affected by the sunlight.
I am of course no great photographer, and video still feels unnatural to me, so all guidance is appreciated.
@tony_b I too post sometimes out of league stuff just to see change but I came back later and remove them. Earlier we used to get lots of views on most of the media but since February I don’t know whether the filters have gone Stricter or the AI has become so strong that it’s marking bad quality stuff heavily hence views have gone down significantly and when I go back to my profile and see poor views or no views I feel like taking them down. Weird thing is lots of them aren’t even hidden and still have no views. As far as the video thing is considered for a really good videos one needs to spend kind of 5 mins while an experienced LG can snap 10 photos of 4-5 different places in 5 mins.
It would be great if you would share your conclusions from adding both stills and videos with the same content.
I’m a big fan of avoiding redundant information.
Some tips on using video:
Make sure there is a purpose for choosing video over adding a still picture. The resolution in videos is a lot lower, so people who want to check some details will not be glad if they need to stop your video and then zoom in to check barriers at the entrance to wheelchairs or some other details important to them.
Here are some of my steps to decide adding a video:
Does it provide more/better info than a still photo?
Are there some relevant movements in the frame that can justify video over normal pic?
If there is no interesting/important movement in the frame, then at least consider to move (pan, tilt, zoom, rotate) the camera while video filming to create an excuse for using video.
Think before video filming: What is the point of making this video. How will it be helpful to Maps users? Have a plan before you start filming. My least favorite videos are when someone does a pan to the right just to pan back showing the same again. That is taking redundancy to the next level.
PS: “If I try to take the video and the photo from two different angles, one of them will likely be negatively affected by the sunlight.” Just changing the angle is in my book not how you avoid redundancy.
@MortenCopenhagen The last time I reported on this I stated that the results were inconclusive. Generally, it appeared as though the photos were getting more views than the videos, but yet there were some instances where it was the complete opposite.
In this period following the February 7th changes, i can also say that resolution of the delayed view counts always show up with views appearing for the photos long before they do for the videos.
I took a quick look at the four links you shared, but won’t have time to delve into them properly until tonight after work. My first reaction though, is that it all seems to contradict the big push towards video we’d seen earlier this year. I might consider stepping back a bit from this, and focus instead on improving my photos.
