There are lots of great photos uploaded by Google Local Guides. But still, there is some room for PERFECT photos for many of the places.
I am sure this can be filled up if a new badge like ‘KUDOs’ is introduced to Local Guides program, which displays the number of kudos for photos, a particular local guide got.
( It should be displayed in the points details).
Here, the fellow local guides ( or it can be extended to anyone who uses Google Maps if there is no flaw) can give a kudo to a photo if they like the photo. With this, we can improve the quality of photos uploaded to maps and also increase the competition constructively.
If there is such facility(kudo) for the photo, then the local guides will automatically take care that their photo is good, unlike the normal photos like…
photos of shops when closed, photos of malls from outside(which actually are having good interiors)…and these normal photos are of no use and in fact, they also don’t give a clear picture of that place but just increase the number of photos for a place (at present there are lot of photos like this for most of the places, which makes difficult for the user to decide and have an opinion on that place) … and I personally experienced this many times on deciding about a place as I have to look into more number of photos for clear idea of that place(which is time taking also).
But with this rating(kudo) feature, we can actually make the place more clear by showing the picture with more kudos in the first place and so on …
And yes if it will be cumbersome or confusing, this chance/provision of giving kudos can be restricted to local guides only … and this can be made completely hidden to the regular users…!!!
If still there is a flaw, we can discuss further and modify this idea to make it flawless…
There are lots of great photos uploaded by Google Local Guides. But still, there is some room for PERFECT photos for many of the places.
I am sure this can be filled up if a new badge like ‘KUDOs’ is introduced to Local Guides program, which displays the number of kudos for photos, a particular local guide got.
( It should be displayed in the points details).
Here, the fellow local guides( or it can be extended to anyone who uses Google Maps if there is no flaw) can give a kudo to a photo if they like the photo. With this, we can improve the quality of photos uploaded to maps and also increase the competition constructively.
This is a good idea yet complicated and making maps much more complex and confusing ,for reviews the likes are ok but there are billions of photographs out there so adding a kudo option and people taking time actually to like them is kind of out of reality , This is just my point of view, still stands out to be a good idea , like your approach to make maps a better place .
After all the time i spent as a local guide , i realised one thing , we as a local guides should make maps better for a user and not better for local guides .
Sorry, my message and writing style might have misled you from actual intention … I ultimately wanted to improve the maps and make it better for the end user, by creating a new feature/badge for the local guide.
If there is such facility(kudo) for the photo, then the local guide will automatically take care that their photo will be good, unlike the normal photos like…
photos of shops when closed, photos of malls from outside(which actually are having good interiors)…
And these photos are of no use and in fact, they also don’t give a clear picture of that place but just increase the number of photos for a place (at present there are lot of photos like this for most of the places, which makes difficult for the user to decide and have an opinion on that place) … and I personally experienced this many times on deciding about a place as I have to look into more number of photos for clear idea of that place(which is time taking also).
But with the rating, we can actually make the place more clear by showing the picture with more kudos in the first place and so on …
And yes if it will be cumbersome or confusing, this chance/provision of giving kudos can be restricted to local guides only … and this can be made completely hidden to the regular users…!!!
If still there is a flaw, we can discuss further and modify this idea to make it flawless…
I completely understand your point of view . @YashwanthN09 and appreciate as well .
One thing i wanted to add is a closed shop picture is not a bad thing ,particularly in india . i understand it does not show the interiors but atleast shows the name sign and mobile number on it . still most of them would be odd to be on maps , here in India , mapping in local areas is a very difficult task since the shop opens there is a huge flow of people and its difficult to capture a perfect image of it , and more people come to question you for capturing it and we have to explain to each and every person about its advantage .
I back your idea but i feel people do not take time to kudo the pictures , thats what my point is .
People are hardly reporting a bad picture so imagine how this idea works .
Your point is also right, that people are hardly reporting a bad picture.
Maybe because even after reporting, the photos may still appear in maps (this happened to me sometimes even though they are actually violating the terms).
(But still, I didn’t stop reporting :p)
So, I thought of this thing.
Actually, we can observe this kind of thing in StackExchange and StackOverflow websites, where the answers, which are reported as most helpful, were shown first.
@YashwanthN09 you have just thought a brilliant idea for Google Map. In no time your idea should execute for better map photo experience. People will react and get better result if your idea come online.
This, along with an easy Spam report system (multiple spam report could be appreciated), could help best images stick to header instead of crap photos.
What you are suggesting is what is currently similar for helpful reviews. Top reviews that usually appear at the top of listings are those that are marked as “helpful”, whereas shorter and useless reviews or just ratings by themselves are listed at the bottom. This is usually denoted by a thumbs up, and there is a badge that will be attained when your reviews have been marked helpful 50 times.
In terms of photos, I can agree. It’s hard to report every single irrelevant photo, so why not mark the photo as the most relevant and helpful for the listing? Of course it is still subject to the algorithm determining which photo is best suited as the top/cover photo, but it will help the AI choose a suitable, best photo. I believe that the majority of Local Guides truly seek the most accurate of photos, so they will perhaps give a thumbs up to the photo that best represents the place and be listed high up, instead of trying to report all the irrelevant photos.
In such a situation, the most ‘thumbs up’ photo will be the front photo on most occasions. I cannot think of ways or even reasons in which Local Guides would attempt to hyperinflate their photo with thumbs up to be the top photo, but I would really prefer this and if it’s not the owners, assist the AI to choose the best photo also with likes.
For example with the Lennox Bridge in Parramatta, it has a very irrelevant top/cover picture of a restaurant that is 80km away, but if one of my photos had the most ‘helpful’ thumbs up that people deemed relevant, the system would be inclined to choose the photo marked most helpful. An example is below.
And while on the topic of badges, I think that to achieve a threshold for a badge, I think photos should be marked as helpful at least 100 times to achieve the badge. What do you think?
Closed photos of stores are pretty okay, they still pretty much show the storefront. As long as the photo is relevant anyway, that’s all that matters. But when there are photos that better represent the listing in question, and the AI chooses the photo of the closed storefront instead, that’s where some intervention or some selective reasoning needs to take place. For example, the cover photo of a local KFC has a distasteful half-eaten chicken wing, but I’ve taken great photos of the interior and the exterior of the establishment, as well as my own food. Imagine trying to find the local KFC on Google Maps and all of a sudden you lose your appetite because of the cover photo, ahah! Radical example, but you get the gist.
Where people do not take time to kudo pictures, people also do not take as much time marking reviews as helpful either, let alone reading them. But there will always be a small dedicated population who take their time each and every day marking places as irrelevant to various degrees of success, and people who mark reviews as helpful. I report photos frivolously, but I don’t mark reviews as helpful.
Where I might work with prototypes, presenting business cases and gathering evidence, I pride myself in such. I’m also an incredible coder as well, but I learn through unconventional and sometimes concerning methods.
I’m always here to support you all. You all are full of ideas and yearning for improvements, and where I might not be able to help them emerge into fruition, the best I can do is present them in clear-sight for moderators and Googlers to see and take close note.
thanks for the suggestions and for your practical example @Briggs . hope this will come real soon …
marking all the irrelevant photos, as irrelevant, may really not be practical all the times … but giving a "kudo "or “thumbs up”, as mentioned in the post, would be practical … and would do better.
Yes, there are people who spend lots of time improving maps with their work … and aafter all this program is to meant for that , to improve it and we are there for this purpose…not just a normal user but #localguide.
