While we are still on the festivity mode we also need to do this. We had a very constructive discussion during our 10th Anniversary of lgconnectturns10 celebrations. We decided that it will be nice to have a leaderboards on Roads. This is to further keep the community together and make adding roads more interesting and fun as well. We have decided that we will also tag @AdamGT on this for assistance and inquiries. @SharmaK also is ready to assist us on this project and idea if necessary and possible. @MarkAuchincloss you’re a key part of this idea too, so here you go!
@JustJake we know that you were on the other meet-up, we saw you there. Anyway we talked about leaderboards on Road Mappers as well, what do you think? Anyway we will throw this whole idea open to the public and see what they think. We will start with the direct roads first and see how far we get, before setting up the other one.
That’s a great idea, @SholaIB. The main reason behind this pattern is that most of us are busy with our workplaces. To be very frank, I usually contribute to road edits only when you initiate a tracking activity—at that moment, I actively start adding roads.
There are only a few Local Guides who remain dedicated to a single project and stay consistently engaged throughout the year. The majority of Local Guides, including myself, tend to participate when a campaign or initiative is running. Once it concludes, we often get occupied with our own posts or move on to other campaigns.
In this context, introducing a monthly leaderboard is an excellent approach. It will create a sense of attention and encouragement, reminding us that we should contribute more consistently.
Over the past few months, while working on initiatives like “Recap of Recaps” and “Rising Stars,” I have experienced true satisfaction—especially when I see someone feeling motivated or happy after being recognized through my posts. This kind of recognition truly matters, particularly for new Local Guides who are just joining Connect.
I don’t fully support or oppose it, but I am concerned that having a leaderboard on Google Maps might bring about privacy issues and an imbalance in numbers. It would probably work better as a monthly goal where users have to opt in themselves each month. It could be like Samsung Health Connect, where you have to walk 200,000 steps in a month to earn a badge. If you don’t feel like participating in a certain month, you just don’t have to join. This approach would likely give users some motivation each month instead.
The Leaderboard system by @AdamGT includes info about Roads on the Core Vitals > Maps Data page, so no doubt it can be compiled into a Leaderboard. BUT considering that relatively few LGs do Roads as compared to Photos or Reviews, this might be a low volume Leaderboard. Also taking note of the fact that Google is extremely slow with approving roads, we’re in a very helpless position regarding the output on such a board.
This would be more within the control of participating LGs, but is unfortunately not managed directly through the Google Maps platform. Everything else on Adam’s leaderboards is verifiable via the Maps platform, but Road Mapper doesn’t have any visibility there.
Yes we have considered all the advantages and disadvantages. It’s true that the approvals dwindles but it comes sometimes anyway. Moreso TRAC started 4 years ago and I can say that the number of local guides adding roads on Google maps have increased. This should bring about more awareness and increment I believe
Regarding Road Mappers @JustJake made a program that can automatically scrape the Road Mappers data. He hasn’t replied and @AdamGT hasn’t too. If they don’t reply then we can go ahead with a Plan B.
I do this all year round, but in small quantities compared to some other LGs. My total for four years is less than the number some got approved in three months in the last TRAC, @SharmaK.
My Road Mapper tracking is a poorly cobbled-together system that relies on member input. The data was difficult to maintain during TORM due to user input errors. I could not use it for a large tracking project as-is.
I would have to say there is no viable way to track Road Mapper participation beyond the monthly achievement posts.
Captain @SholaIB, I think it’s a great idea to have a monthly leaderboard for Roads, as it will attract the attention of more members in our Connect community.
I also feel it would be better to include it in the existing @AdamGT’s Top 100 Leaderboards instead of creating a separate leaderboard.
The Top 100 Leaderboards have a much larger audience, so adding the Roads category there will make more Local Guides aware of it. This may also encourage more members to start adding roads.
Thanks, dear @PrasadVR agree—starting with direct Roads makes sense. Once it’s proven there, I believe the same leaderboard concept could also be extended to the live Google Maps Roads leaderboard in the future.
