Leaderboards of the Top 100 Most Viewed Photos

[Cercis]

@AdamGT @Thank you for the additional tips, and again for your patience. @Cercis

[Herve_Andrieu]

Hi @AdamGT

Unfortunately I do not track my “star” photo as I do not see it as a direct result of my work since I do not control how the Google Maps AI will choose photos for POIs.

My former star is now 8th in my most viewed photos ranking with 6,493,966 views so its growth somehow slowed compared to other photos. The most likely reason for the slowing growth is that the Hardware store itself posted their own front picture 3 months ago and like I was mentioning previously, store owner pictures take precedence over LGs’ pictures in most cases. My picture is now the 3rd picture for that store after 2-owner provided pictures.

Regarding the question of indoor/outdoor pictures, most of my pictures are store fronts as it is my favorite subject, but I take inside pictures on a regular basis as well. Among my top 10 pictures (all above 5 million views), only 1 is from an inside. So I am not sure if it is due to the selection of photos I provide or real preference from Google Maps algorithm.

Let’s all go to the stars with great pictures…

[AdrianLunsong]

@AdamGT I think the view count for all star photos will eventually plateau out. The easiest guess to why is that fresh content should be one of the priority that Google places when choosing a photo to feature. And it just comes down to luck if another photo starts to gather more views because it’s of a more popular venue perhaps?

[AdamGT]

Thanks @Herve_Andrieu and what you say about store owner photos of course makes sense and totally beyond our control however in your case you have a stack of high ranking stars in the waiting, I mean your top 10 pictures are all above 5 million views!!! It’s all very interesting.

Yes I think you are right @AdrianLunsong , a photo’s currency would logically have to be major criteria for selecting stars. So I wonder given this, if once we have established a “star”, if after it drops out of vogue we should return and take another as close to identical photo to update its currency

[FaridTDF]

Hola @AdamGT te comparto el estatus de mis fotos mas famosas para tu estadística, gracias.

Saludos desde la Tierra del Fuego, Farid.

[FlyingTimo]

Hey @AdamGT - my star photo (which seems still at no1 spot) is now at 31.576.069 views - it keeps on going…

[Kousalya]

@AdamGT , Thank you so much. Felt very happy .

[SP31]

Thanks for the heads up, @AdamGT ! Updating my entry w/ my most viewed as it has absolutely stunned me, haha. Here is my top viewed photo…

• * A screenshot or photo of your “star photo”:
  

  

• * The Maps Category: Latin American Restaurant

• * Date of your Star Photo: March 2017

• Tell us if this is your best photo: Definitely not

• Tell us why you think it’s your “star photo”: Despite not being my best photo, I feel like it is a star photo as it is a perfect vantage point of the restaurant and the environment surrounding the restaurant.

• Tell us what you think are the important factors that contribute to photo view stats: This restaurant is located on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, which brings in thousands of people to the shores of Hollywood Beach in Florida throughout the year. As this is a prime location and one of the more frequented restaurants, I am sure this is why it is so popular. It also is a featured photo for the restaurant.

• What camera did you use: Google Pixel (1)

@AdamGT unfortunately layout on GMaps mobile caused my screenshot to be a bit odd, but updating with my newest views via photo below and keeping original for purpose of good photo example .

[AdamGT]

That’s an impressive new “star photo” @SP31 given that it was uploaded some 15 months after your previous star (the Chocolate Shop) featured on our leaderboards! I guess there’s a lot of merit in what you say about this American restaurant is located on Florida’s very popular Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, a prime location and as well as being a very popular restaurant, your photo is featured on Maps. Well done Steve

[Shirley]

Ooooo @TraciC ! I remember when we went to Walmart. I think it was super empty because we went at 6 am?!?! Thanks for bringing my attention to this thread. This is really interesting to see what kind of photos we all have that are the most viewed. I never really looked and was quite surprised by my most viewed photo!

1. * A screenshot or photo of your “star photo” - My most viewed photo is of Isami Sushi.
2. * The Maps Category is a sushi restaurant. It is a photo that includes part of the sushi bar.
3. * Date of your Star Photo - The photo was taken and uploaded to Google Maps in October 2016.
4. Tell us if this is your best photo. I don’t think this is my best photo at all. The corner of the photo has someone’s face in it, I don’t even know who that is. I am not even sure how I captured this photo.
5. Tell us why you think it’s your “star photo”. My guess is that it shows what the sushi bar looks like at this restaurant.
6. Tell us what you think are the important factors that contribute to photo view stats. Sharing photos that accurately depict the place of interest without too much editing or filters. I think users want to know what the place is like from a potential customer perspective.
7. What camera did you use? This was taken on a Nexus 5X. A phone that I was still using up until last week!

Thanks @AdamGT for setting this up!

I found the Walmart photo from Oct 2017 with 159k views but came across this one from Target and I think we went there together as well. This Target photo has about 587k views. If anything, I’m more confused as to how these photos are selected!

[AdamGT]

Nice to see you here @Shirley and well done on your BIG splash onto the Top 100 Most Viewed Photos leaderboards. Sheesh you and Traci went to Walmart at 6am!!! Shopaholics or what? Funny how you say that you’re not even sure how you captured your Sushi restaurant photo and it has become your “star”. I also like how you mention how you believe that an important factor that contributes to photo view stats is “sharing photos that accurately depict the place of interest without too much editing or filters…users want to know what the place is like from a potential customer perspective”. I think there’s merit in that and I too aonly do very basic edits like straightening and cropping the photo perhaps. However, I think we’re all confused how our least expected become our “star photos”.

As mentioned in the post, please keep in mind that as the number of views of a Local Guide’s individual photos isn’t public, in order for me to update your existing entry you will, from time to time (not less than monthly), need to provide this should you wish. If however you decide not to update your entry then you’ll gradually drop lower on the leaderboards as both new and existing Local Guides with higher Star Views jump above you and eventually you’ll drop below 100 and off the leaderboard(s) altogether. In this way, the leaderboards are self cleansing.

Finally, just looking at your photo stats in the image that you supplied, you have some amazing overall photo stats in ways that you may not be aware of! So much so that I’d encourage you to participate in the Leaderboards of Top 100 Photo Views post which is about the performance of all your photos whereas this post here is about just one photo, your “star photo”. Sheeesh, I just checked @TraciC 's overall photo stats and she should do the same

[TraciC]

@AdamGT I can confirm that @Shirley and I are not shopaholics but rather, we went to Walmart at 6am (and maybe Target later that day) because we were headed to Muir Woods before it got crowded. In fact, we went in before it was technically open and were able to enjoy the National Monument site without others (the best way to enjoy) with parking a few feet from the entrance! On our way out, everyone was going in but not us! Woohoo!

[AdamGT]

Oh I get it now @TraciC . So I now have this image of you and @Shirley both with hiking boots on at Walmart and then dropping into Isami Sushi to pick up some groceries and sushi for your hikes through Muir Woods. I should have realized this, I mean you wouldn’t want to be having sushi at 6am would you! I got it

[LaloPadilla]

Hi @AdamGT here is my update !

It is: A photo I took while I was waiting for my order in a shopping mall

I took/uploaded this photo in: March 28 2019

Is it my best photo? Absolutely not, this was a photo I took when I arrived there and I was going to delete it because I took better photos, but I changed my mind. And seriously I don´t understand why this is the most viewed one

Why do I think it’s my “star photo”?

That place is a well known mall in Mexico City and there are a lot of people that visit it because there are offices and a museum in there.

I think the important factors that contribute to making a top photo are: Post the first photo of the POI and upload photos from the most visited places ( and maybe it’s your lucky day and your photo may get to the top)

The camera I used is: Xiaomi Mi MIX 3

[AdamGT]

Congratulations @LaloPadilla on both leveling up to Level 10 and jumping from 4,413,896 to 7,493,981 views for your star photo! Perhaps lucky you didn’tdelete it. Maybe it just adds to the point that @Shirley made in that your photo accurately depict the place of interest without too much editing or filters and users like to know what the place is like from a potential customer perspective!

[Ant_Bad_Yogi]

@AdamGT You are a Connect Moderator! Congratulations. Thank you so much for the updates of the boards. I’m now in level 8. I know it’s a difficult work and it takes time. But maybe you can update the boards next time. Thank you again for your hard work for us.

[Ant_Bad_Yogi]

@AdamGT Thank you for the quick update. Wow, I can’t believe I’m on this board. That is nice. Thank you again for the nice job updating these boards.

[Ant_Bad_Yogi]

@AdamGT This is a surprise. I thought that after I stepped to level 8, I won’t be on the level 8 board as there are many LGs who have millions of view per photo. But I did, I’m on this board. Thank you for sharing these boards with us.

[AdamGT]

Well done @Ant_Bad_Yogi on levelling up to Level 8. Don’t worry at all, the leaderboards are continually being updated but sometimes it takes time as it’s all being done manually.

[TraciC]

Well, I have been known to eat anything but breakfast foods for breakfast, so you never know! I did have a rice roll in Tokyo at 5am once, @AdamGT !