As a local guide level 6, I am very thrilled to be a part of the global community, being able to share photos, reviews, doing ratings and answering questions for each place you go for any purpose you might need is just very helpful for everybody using google interfaces, I consider it as a win-win program and a platform in which users and tourists can communicate and check for themselves places to go and place owners can check their reviews and collect voice of the customer to keep customer satisfaction.
For me, I started being a local guide four years ago while using google maps for route directions and I noticed every place you visit has a rating and comments from previous users and since then I decided to give a rating for every place I visit and add a comment whenever it is beneficial.
It impacted my life in many situations whenever I am choosing between two places I start comparing reviews and ratings. It also impacted my honeymoon when I traveled to Bali, Sanur two years ago when I used lists to check for places to visit and activities to be done with best ratings. It will be really interesting to meet other local guides all over the world and share views and thoughts with them.