My journey with google maps started about 3 years ago, that’s when I became a full fledged contributor. Before I mostly used google maps mostly, as a lot of people, for navigation.
3 years ago, in the heart of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, is when I started experimenting with finding new restaurants to try; myself and a friend were interested in exploring and finding new places to experience. Each weekend, more or less, we would rely on google maps for suggestions. We developed a de facto system for narrowing down options. We would eliminate places that didn’t have more than 300 reviews and didn’t make the cut of 4 on Google Map ratings. And for the most part our experiences were 90% awesome. My system has gained a bit of complexity, I would digress, but that’s a subject for a different post!
As the days moved on, and more than 1,000 miles east of the Twin Cities, in the vigorous city of Boston, Google maps has taken a big place in my life. It helped me not only navigate the lengthy journey between the Midwest and the East Coast, but also transforming it into an adventurous voyage.
My niche contributions nowadays, I would proclaim, is finding places that are conducive to group meetups. I have taken upon myself to organize outings for two social groups in the greater city of Boston, and Google Maps became indispensable all throughout the process of planning. I think by offering feedback on how establishments interact with us a group, from reservation and comfort of accommodating a group, to the quality of food and how welcoming the staff were.
So far the amount of information that Google maps has offered, and the ease with which it made planning these events, can only be described as beyond tremendous. I can’t but not maintain a continuous level of involvement, and be part of a community that is thinking of others instead of the self.
I know that my individual opinion/perspective in the community is probably more subjective/limited than not, but our collective wisdom is far much useful and nearer to the truth than we might expect. I will endeavor to be an active part of the push towards that collective wisdom, and I would urge us to do the same.