Is there a guide for EDITS? (Shopping Malls, Duplicates, etc)

Google Maps tips & tricks
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Hello fellow LGs, Moderators, etc,

I’ve been doing this for 4 months now, and feel like I’m “Flying by the seat of my pants”. I’m much more of a “Read the Manual, and do it right” kind of person. HATE the fact that phones don’t come with detailed manuals on how things work. Feeling kind of the same way when making edits. I reached out to one of the LGs months ago regarding some editing issues, solved a couple, but many issues are still pending. I could make a list, or even a few, but more curious whether there’s actually some type of Edit For Smarties manual, so WE CAN ALL follow the same rules.

Here’s a perfect example:

This morning, I started editing some 237 photos from a Shopping Mall photo shoot I did recently, and recognized that the mall is a total mess.

  1. The footprint of the building is OK, but inside walkways nonexistent.
  2. No consistent building slots or numbers to confirm location of business.
  3. No outside numbering of Business on glass to confirm address.
  4. MANY of the pins for businesses were placed in the parking lot, as if someone didn’t know how to place the pins, or couldn’t figure out where to place them because of items 1-3.
  5. Floor designation is wrong on a high percentage of businesses.
  6. Mall does not show floor designation choices to left of map when zoomed up on map.

The above list of troubles is extreme. With consistent building numbers and correct floor plan and layout, it’s not too challenging to “Suggest an Edit”.

Some of the questions I’d be looking to solve in a Manual, if one existed:

  1. Who does the ‘drawing’ of the inside of a mall? Can we? This mall needs walkways so we know where to put the pins so people aren’t instructed to go to the outside of the building instead of from inside.

  2. Who designates the apartment/unit number, that’s often shown inside the mall, the list is always incomplete, but at least one can recognize that address 110 goes between 108 and 112.

  3. HOW do we designate which floor a business is on when making edits? There is no field for floor number, and can’t really be included in the address. I HAVE seen it added to the “Located within” field like:

Hillsdale Shopping Center, Floor 2

but not confident that doing this causes the submission program to appropriately tag the correct floor.

  1. Who do I ask for the REAL physical address? The fisherman’s wharf in San Francisco uses 3 different addresses, and is also a complete mess. Over 7% of businesses are missing, and at least 30% are incorrectly addressed.

  2. When there are duplicates in different locations, and the newest one is in the correct location, but the existing business needs to be moved to the correct location AND the duplicate deleted, what’s the procedure for that? Does it need to be done in 2 or more submissions, spaced out in time for the first to be approved before 2nd is submitted?

These items are just from memory, and not from a list, which I should start keeping. It’s frustrating enough for my local Shopping Mall to be this out of Whack, the additional frustration of not knowing what to do is hopefully in some DETAILED online manual.

Final Tidbit:

I just happened to realize that I’m only 15k away from Google Headquarters. Would be nice to “Meet Up” with someone on the Maps team to try to shed additional light on how things are supposed to be done, vs. what’s really being done.

  • Steve

P.S. @Rednewt74 , @tony_b , do you know where to find these answers?

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@shunsader

Unfortunately, there is no official manual. You will need to search here on Connect and in the Maps Support forum to find the answers.

In many parts (not all) shopping malls (and airports and hospitals etc) can upload an indoor floor map. Please see: https://www.google.com/maps/about/partners/indoormaps/ This program is not available to us. But you can suggest to the marketing or management of the shopping center to start cleaning up. Please ensure the program is available in your country first.

After an indoor map is put in place Local Guides have very limited editing power.

I will recommend that you study some or all the posts under the #LGCTM project. Here is a good start: https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Local-Guides-Clean-The-Map-LGCTM/m-p/2127633#M665526

To become an experienced editor on Google Maps is pretty much a Learn-By-Doing venture. And you need to use your frustration to seak for the answers you need. And always learn from what you do on Google Maps. It is very difficult to come up with questions that have not already been addressed. But we are also here to help you.

All the best

Morten

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@shunsader ,

The map edits that I’ve done have been pretty much Standalone locations. It sounds like fixing up the mall Maps maybe more trouble than it’s worth. I’m glad you brought this to the Forum and that Morton Copenhagen has responded.

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@Rednewt74 ,

“More trouble than what it’s worth”…BUT, this is kind of the reason I’m doing this, out of frustration that things are NOT where they should be, and hate to be the person realizing that the business is nowhere near where it’s supposed to be, or is out of business. Was just ‘hoping’ to get better insight on how to deal with more sophisticated issues like designating what floor it’s supposed to be on.

@MortenCopenhagen , could you help me with this specific question:

If I’m adding or moving a business that’s located on different floor than the main floor, how/where do I make that designation? - Steve

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Hi @shunsader

You have not given me much to work on here. Next time please share the Maps link(s).

Given there is an indoor map in place Maps users and Local Guides are not trusted to edit the floor level of a pin.

Keep in mind that some of the pins might not actually be on the indoor map. In that case they will be “floor penetrating pins” (visible across floors). Only the shopping center staff managing the indoor map can make such changes.

Don’t wear your self down by taking on problems that can’t be solved by you. Reaching out to and encouraging the shopping center folks is more likely to get things moving.

Cheers

Morten

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@shunsader Hallo, ich habe nur eine Frage dazu. In Einkaufszentren die ich kenne sind Tafeln vorhanden die zeigen wo sich welches Geschäft befindet. Ist das bei ihnen nicht so?

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@shunsader ,

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be discouraging. You have chosen one of the toughest nuts to Crack, by going after shopping malls, etc. As you figure things out, be sure to let the rest of us know.

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@Annaelisa ,

I believe you asked: “Hi, I just have a question about this. In shopping malls that I know, there are boards that show where which store is located. Isn’t that the case with them?”

Yes, most Malls have directories, but people born in the early 2000’s and after don’t use those. If their phone got them to the front door, it should take them all the way to the the business, not the parking lot, or down the street, or to the wrong floor. That’s what Google Maps is about…getting you there. - Steve

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My apologies @shunsader I don’t have an answer for this. When I think of editing, it is for simple things like business hours or phone numbers.

I’ll stick around and learn from whatever you learn from other responses here.

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@shunsader so eine Tafel wäre für mich zumindest hilfreich um die Geschäfte richtig zuzuordnen, also als Vorlage für Maps

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@Annaelisa and @shunsader

Last time I visited and photographed all the shops in a shopping center, I was lucky to pick up a free folder with two maps of the entire shopping center. It was very useful when moving the pins to their correct locations. A photo of a directory sign can also work if the names are printed directly on the Map.

All the best

Morten

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@MortenCopenhagen @shunsader

Interesse halber habe ich mir 2 Centren auf Maps angesehen. In der Anzeige sind Parzellen und Etagen sowie eine gesamt Übersicht der Anlage vorhanden. Über die übliche Änderung dürfte dabei eine richtige Zuordnung kein Problem darstellen.

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@Annaelisa and @shunsader

I was lucky that Väla Centrum has only one floor, and the indoor Maps is there, but the pins are not locked as they usually are.

Cheers

Morten

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@shunsader

Maybe someone or we should make the Guide for Editors as you requested :wink:

One of my best tricks is to investigate things I don’t understand on the Map are the dedicated help pages for Google Maps, Google Business Profile, or other relevant Google products. We just need to keep in mind that such pages are written with another audience in mind. But most of the guidelines and features are often explained pretty well.

All the best

Morten

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@shunsader I have a variation on this “problem”. I recently went to two similar stores in a shopping mall, and I took photos at both. I uploaded one set successfully, but I couldn’t find the store name for the second set. When I search, I find that name at another location about a mile away which is incorrect. After a few days, Maps reminded me about my photos and suggested I add them, but the suggested place to add them was the generic name of the Mall. As I visited multiple places in the mall, I want to add the photos to their own named store. Maps is also not allowing me to drag the incorrect pin over to the mall, and has rejected my “Not there” and “Duplicate” suggestions for the wrong location.

The suggestion by @MortenCopenhagen to work with the building management team is interesting, but I sometimes think that us LGs are more intense than members of the public and business community.

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@tony_b

Dragging a pin to the right place is not your only option when correcting the location of a pin.

Please see: https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/How-best-to-move-a-pin/m-p/3153630#M1236136

If the address text is not correct you should not use the drag method.

Cheers

Morten

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Thanks for the link @MortenCopenhagen

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