We’re excited to continue our Ask a Googler series with our next guest, Michael Toshiro Omoto, an engineering manager on the Google Maps team.
With this series, Local Guides like you get an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek at the Google Maps features you love. If you missed our other posts, you can check out more information on Ask a Googler here and read our Q&As from previous guests like Capella Yee and Ishwar Dhanuka here.
Next, we’ll be joined by Mike. He will be on hand to answer Google Maps product questions in various categories like his work on dedicated surfaces people like you can contribute on (like the creator zone and contribute tab) and notifications.
If you could ask him directly about these things listed above, what would you ask? We know great minds think alike, so if a fellow Local Guide has already asked a question you had in mind, please tap the “like” (heart button) so we can see that there is more interest around that topic.
Unfortunately, we can’t accommodate every single question submitted, but please feel free to ask your questions in the comments and we will answer all that we can. It’s also possible that your question could be used in a future post on Connect, so don’t be shy.
Have a question for Mike? Leave your questions in the comments section below before the end of the day on Friday, June 18!
Thank you again for another series of Ask a Googler very kind of you indeed.
I have very few questions for Mike;
Hello Mike:person_raising_hand:t4: ,Nice to have you on board and pleased to meet you.
First question is are you a local guide yourself? If yes do you face any challenges when contributing?
Are our contributions/points updated automatically or manually?
What accounts for the delay and discrepancies in the updating of the points,edits and other contributions?
Of recent there has been more and more complaints about reviews been made private. I have some of mine gone private as well, what could be responsible for this?
You sometimes get notification of a place you pass by to review, how accurately does Google get our location for use when it comes to sending us various notifications? It would seem to me that they are inaccurate atimes.
For the notifications that has some rankings in it for some of us local guides, any plans to indicate it on our profile in form of a badge or medal or points?
There was a recent change on our profile outlook some days ago(On mine anyway) is it a test run or permanent, is it available to all local guides or is it a feature been rolled out gradually over time?
Will update this if I have more, thanks in advance.
Really loving this series, @KatieMcBroom ! Looking forward to learning more about Mike and his role as an engineer (manager). My question for Mike would be around the notifications, one in particular as seen below:
I have recently received a few notifications like this and have wondered: For notifications where rank is mentioned (in my case, top 10% of restaurant reviewers on Google), how is this ranking determined? Does it take into consideration a certain region/city? Is it dependent on how many other Google Maps users found my restaurant reviews as helpful?
Thank You for enlightenment asking a question about Micheal T Omoto nice to have you hear Local Guides Connect how can I secure the Google maps listing and Google search by singing and stay secure without any interfering alone with my email 2 days I just find out some of my issues blank open up new email without link the attachment inter Next Question how to avoid Hacker what is the best security out there to add to my alter phone and laptop?
Welcome Mike, and thanks to @KatieMcBroom for the great intro
The Contribute tab is always the subject of controversial discussion among Local Guides, due to the limited options we have to search for our contributions. Especially for very active Local Guides, i.e. with many contributions, scrolling through the contributions to find what they are looking for can be painful. Are you thinking of improving the search / consultation functions? A few examples:
Photo search - It would be great to be able to search for contributions based on Date / Place name / Area
Reviews - Same as above
Edits - Searching according to the edit status (pending) or to the edit type (new road, phone number, etc.)
Contribution status(public / private) - many of us do not realise that some of their contributions are made private till someone else inform them, because our private profile do not tell us this kind of information
I have more questions, but I would like te leave space to others
Thank you @KatieMcBroom for introducing us to this Ask a Googler series it’s a great opportunity to get a feel for the work behind Google Maps.
Since the beginning of 2020, when more than two-thirds of the world’s population was in isolation, the evolution of COVID-19 has been shown through maps that have helped us understand and behave towards COVID-19, allowing us to be influenced by maps. .
I imagine that in addition to the notable improvements in geographic imaging, it was necessary to review all parameters and introduce new algorithms in data science to help us manage behaviors, prevent, respond and recover better from crises, including epidemics of diseases such as COVID. -19.
Never before have geographic imagery backed up by reliable data gathered from the behavior of the population, from Google local guides, along with data entered by public health agencies, research institutes, universities, businesses and non-governmental organizations, are changing the way many of us interact with the world. world.
Here My questions for Mike:
The sudden change in people’s behavior, how much has it affected the way we aggregate and make sense of the data and how did you decide to map the data responsibly?
How have you and your team changed the way you work, how have notifications changed?
How can maps help us shape narrative when and what to notify?
What actions have been taken to help us move from an attitude of alarm and prudence to one of action?
Thank you @KatieMcBroom for introducing Mike in this Ask a Googler series.
I have a question-
As a local guide I always like to take front view (with contact number) of a local shop and add the contact number and add the image containing contact number for verification. Why it takes so much time to verify it and also we do not get notified even if the contact number is not verified?
Thanks @KatieMcBroom for introducing another Googler to us all, and this time it’s Michael Toshiro Omoto, an engineering manager on the Google Maps team.
Hello Mike, regarding contributions, because of the COVID-19 lockdown(s), I like many other Local Guides have been unable to travel afar so I’ve been spending quite a lot more time locally and because of this, have changed my guiding activities quite a lot. As a consequence of this, I have one question for you Mike but some background first.
Background: We get email notifications for both our Contribution edits being reviewed(PENDING) and those that are accepted (APPROVED). What’s missing is an email for those edits not approved, (i.e. those NOT APPLIEDs)! Yes they are all listed in the Contributions > EDITS tab but when you have hundreds and hundreds of contribution edits, as I and many other Local Guides do, with no filtering on our Edits it’s impossible to find what one might be looking for!
My question therefore is, could a filter be added on the Contributions > EDITS tab to allow us to filter on (1) EDITS NOT APPLIED, (2) EDITS APPROVED and (3) EDITS PENDING? If not, then could a Download function be provided to allow us to download all of our edits in a standard Comma Separated Values (.csv) file so that we can do our filtering and sorting in Google Sheets! If not, could a notification email be sent each time our edits are NOT APPLIED? If none of these are possible, perhaps you could come up with some other way to implement this needed feature!
Edited: Given that we get email notifications for both our Contribution edits being reviewed(PENDING) and those that are accepted (APPROVED), another, perhaps simpler option would be to only list the the NOT APPLIEDs in the Edits tab!
There is one question I have for Mike which has been long standing for me - its something we’ve talked about at Connect Live and other events around notifications. @ErmesT raised it recently in idea exchange. The question is:
To be compliant with the rules, we’re not allowed to contribute reviews or ratings to places we have a relationship with. e.g. place of work, place where we volunteer, place our sister owns, place our friend operates, etc. Have Google considered allowing Local Guides to say “never ask me about this place again” so they do not get notified to review it after nearly every visit like we do today?
Adding to the question of @AdamGT perhaps our edit history, road history, etc. could be included in Google Takeout.
@SholaIB “Are our contributions/points updated automatically or manually?” - there are at least 150,000,000 Local Guides making contributions every day. While I’m sure a percentage get checked manually I am also pretty sure that the entire population of Australia isn’t sitting at computers checking everyone else’s contributions! Automatic is going to be the answer :).
Thank you for your question. Since Mike is focusing on topics such as contribute tab and notifications, unfortunately he won’t be able to answer your inquiry.
great to see the next guest! I’m bit late but I’ll try to leave anyway my question to Mike, are there any plans or working on an update feature inside notifications / contributions?
Example, if I’ll after x months to the same place where I’ve already contributed with photos and reviews it would be very helpful to ask me if the place is different and there are any changes / updates. I noticed there is something in that direction recently and mainly about photos, but not complete in a matter of providing an updated contribution because maybe the place has restructured, the ownership changed, they introduced a new product line, and so on.
Then a not Maps strictly related question, do you have a favorite team hobby and if yes which one is it?
,Nice to have you on board and pleased to meet you.
