Dear @JeroenM , hope all’s well. Thanks for taking our names off the project. Much appreciated. As for which side of Maps Terms you’re operating on, if you’re not sure, ask the question: Mapping Your World, or the Google Maps & Earth Help Forum are both places you can get definite answers from an authoritative source. If the research is genuine and above board there will be a right way to go about it. Thanks again and kind regards from Osaka78
Thank you for getting back to me and I very much appreciate you communicating your concerns.
I studied the four legal documents that would be applicable and I cannot find any rule or term that this project would not be abiding by. Having said that, if in doubt, better be safe than sorry, so I like your suggestion to ask at the Product Forum. My expectations to get a straight answer are not very high, as these forums are “staffed” by volunteers that mostly use canned responses. They are experts on how to use the apps, not necessary the rules how to use them. But I shall do as you suggest.
I fully realize it would be unwise to give legal advice, but as you stated firmly earlier that this project would be breaking the rules, would you be so kind to share the specific rule you think this project would be breaking?
You mentioned the “bulk feed rule”, but the way I understand what they are talking about, that has nothing to do with what this project would be doing. The project, following my earlier suggested approach, would create a database, it does not create a broadcast (feed) of “bulk content” of maps.
Simplifying the project, we could all calculate our own scores and share our scores and then create average scores based on the info shared by the participants. In that case, there would be no need for a database collection of the individual edit results of the participants.
Dear JeroenM, hope all’s well. As for what specific rules we think the project breaks, probably any to do with copyright. As you say, you mightn’t get a straight answer, so you will have to decide how to proceed, as breaking terms of use violates the relationship between Google and an individual. Kind regards from Osaka78
Okay, now it is clear that participants in this project would not be breaking any rules, let’s get back to work and focus on some of my questions to the community/ project team:
Who would like to help with the admin, the design of the project and the beta-testing?
Other questions on my mind:
Do you think it is a good idea to benchmark against people with the same new Expert-Badge-Level? So Masters (for example) under us compare bench-mark with fellow Masters?
Since statistics only work with high numbers. How many participants are needed to make it worth-while to create a regional/ local scoreboard? Is it a good idea to only enable unofficial LG Communities with a member-count of 100+ to sign up to partner?
Should we launch a simple version first (only benchmark against global figures, or should we develop the more labor intense (regional) version straight away?)
I decided the best way to explain the basic idea behind this project is by actually making a mock-up DEMO.
Obviously, the data in the following DEMO is totally fictional. However, it is a working automated system, so feel free to add fictitious results for either Demo Person 1 or Demo Person 2.
Here are all the live links to the ROUGH demo elements:
Now that I can see a green light as well as a better understanding of the project, I’m in. I’m trying to figure out how to start marketing and garnering participants but I’m sure there may be misunderstanding along the way who are not too familiar with the local guides connect channel.
Thank you for your support and for joining the team. Your thoughts and input to the planning and execution of the project are very welcome.
With regards to marketing the project I suggest the following:
Once we have finalized the design of the forms and score sheets, we should have a demo like the one above to provide transparency and offer insight into what we are doing.
The biggest driver is still the interest in knowing one’s own score. Now people like yourself, would make their own spreadsheet and calculate their score, but by offering an easy (standardized) way to find out with the benefit of being able to benchmark against peers, should get people to participate.
The next step is to inform people:
A Connect post with the instructions and details of the project with links to the sign-up forms
A Connect post where people can share their scores and where the project team gives weekly (?) reports (like a weather report, is the temperature up or down…or stable.
Ask Community Moderators (unofficial LG Communities) to partner up in the exchange program and promote the project (this might require a campaign by itself, I have already invited some)
Write related articles for Connect and for sharing on LG Community pages to raise awareness of the project and to share our insights.
Ask people if they know their success score during conversations (including social media).
The last item on the list could also be educational posts that discuss:
the verification process (without benefiting spammers of course)
the frustration of Not Applied and how to go about it
the potential reasons behind the Not Applied and how to use that knowledge to lower one’s risk when deemed desirable
articles that educate fellow LGs to improve the quality of their edits (and ask them to tell us if their score improves)
These related articles could have links to the Connect Page where people can sign up.
I just found this project and wonder if you were able to get some data and reach any conclusions.
I guess that a reason behind your project was to understand and maybe somehow increase your approval rates of edits. Recently I have had that concern myself. Hence I would also like to share this with you:
Over time my approval rate has gone up dramatically. Especially in the last month or so. Simple edits I estimate now have 90+% immediate approval rate. And others more complicated edits and creation of new POIs have about 50-60% immediate approval rate. That is a lot better than 6 months ago.
This (I think) is mainly due to 2 reasons:
I believe Google Maps have become much better in terms of transparency. One example is that I since 1-2 months consistently get feedback via email on each edit I make. Either a “Thank you - we will think about it”-mail or a “Published”-mail. So the automated evaluation of edits has improved a lot.
I think I’m getting more experience in how to make the edits and new POI in a way that increases the likelihood of getting a “Published”-response.
If you care to discuss experiences on how to get a higher approval rate of edits, we could start a new thread or join one of the existing ones.
Kind regards from Osaka78