One of my favorite contributions to Google Maps are adding photos of places to Google Maps. Long back I used to take photos of each and every places I visit and add it to Google Maps but it became little difficult later that people or business owner asks on why I take photos and I tell them that I am a Local Guide and it will be helpful for people searching for places in Google Maps.
But throughout my Local Guide journey, I never had any bad experience on people behaving rudely and asking me why I take photos. They just ask me the reason and when I explain them, they were happy with it.
What I do usually is that I take photos of the dishes which I order in case of restaurants and in case of tourist spots, there will not be any problem in taking photos and that’s how I mostly do photo contributions to Google Maps.
In case if I want to take photos of the restaurant when there is less crowd, I ask permission from the Business owner/manager for taking photos of their place and telling them that I will be adding it to Google Maps by showing them my Google Maps Profile. This work for me everytime and they have been accepting my permission and then I take photos of the interior and exterior of the restaurant.
Today I visited a restaurant in Hyderabad and there was no crowd and after ordering my meal, I decided to ask permission from the store manager and did the same. The store manager accepted my request and told me to take many photos as I want. I then took the photos of the interiors and went to the entrance to take more photos. At that time, there was another person who came from the outside and shouted at me on why I am taking photos of the restaurant.
He pulled my phone and I was politely telling him that I got the permission from the store manager and I am taking photos to add it to Google Maps but he was not listening to me and not giving my phone back. I asked him to come inside and talk with the store manager and then the store manager told that he only allowed me to take photos and then he was okay and I showed him my Google Maps profile and he apologized and told me that some people take photos for illegal purpose and thats why he got angry. I told him that’s fine and then he told me to take more photos.
After taking some photos, my meal was ready and after having my meal, I told the Business owner to provide wheelchair accessible entrance so that it will be beneficial for the differently-abled people to visit the restaurant and he told that he will provide the same.
My reason for this post is that even after taking permission from the store manager or business owner, there are chances some people may behave rudely to us asking why we take photos of the place but we can explain them politely and I feel that showing our Google Maps profile is one the great ways in explaining people the reason we take photos of places. Getting permission first hand from the business owner or store manager will be very helpful in not getting into any trouble when taking photos of places.
It would be great if you can share any tips regarding taking photos of a place in the comments.
Take care, stay safe and Peace.
