My Experience with Google Maps

Sharing on Google Maps was just a coincidence. I was totally unaware about the timeline feature in Google Maps. While exploring the app, it became very clear that I can tag all the places I’ve been to, so as to create a time based location history for the places I visited.

Living in Mumbai and carrying out a digital marketing business in Mumbai and Pune, Google Maps has helped me immensely. It is a great feature for me in carrying out my business as I don’t need to send myself locations on WhatsApp. If the clients’ business is listed on Google Business, I tag it on my timeline. In case if they don’t have a Google Business profile, it is an additional service which I can give to the client as I take care of other services. My clients love when they see their names on Google search.

I love to spend my money on food and shopping. Sharing a meal with a colleague or friends / family gives me some brownie points on Google Maps as I contribute a review to the restaurant I visit. Once I visited a wedding ceremony in the outskirts of a city and wrote a good review about the place and to my surprise the owner replied to my review. I was happy that people are engaging themselves on Google Maps as it was not a common thing because people hire marketing teams and what not to manage their businesses.

Who doesn’t like to try out and buy new clothes? I just love it! When I’m not working or eating, I shop for apparels. I have given numerous reviews for brands and shops but have hardly gotten a reply on my 5-star reviews. I’d like Google to add a couple of features in this particular part of Google Maps so as to increase the interactions and in turn increase the number of active users on the platform.

I love to take pictures from my phone when I’m visiting these places. Once I’m home and connected to the wifi, Google asks my permission to upload the photos to the place they were tagged. I sort the good ones and upload them. I have over 30,000 views on 200+ pictures I uploaded. Some might think it’s not that big of a deal but for someone who wasn’t expecting a single view, this is an achievement and Google did give me a badge for it. So proud!

As I was contributing my piece of mind on Google Maps, I happened to get an email from Google one day saying “Since you’ve made it to Level 5, you’re invited to apply! We’ll be hosting our most passionate creators for an all-expenses-paid trip to Google’s campus. You’ll get a chance to share tips with other inspiring Local Guides and meet the people behind your favorite features.” That was like the best day of my life as I never expected anything like this would happen so soon. I was supercharged to be a part of this event and hence writing this to explain how I started.

If anyone who reads my journey finds it interesting, do comment how you started off and how was your overall experience. Would certainly like to be one of the chosen one to visit the California campus and meet some of you guys and learn more about the community. [Also because I can spend my birthday (13th November) with you amazing people. :wink: ]