Thanks for the comments @MortenCopenhagen , even though some of my message is away from the editing topic
Iāve never really seen any discussion about updates but going off the interface I see, it says it is for photo updates, the caption is optional / irrelevant to the use of the feature.
If taking new photos of a place, why would you not use the Updates section?
When the app reminds someone to upload photos of a place, they get into the updates section as well from what I can see.
I used to chuck in some weather emojis (live weather report (please note that emoji doesnāt accrue points as a caption) but noticed about 90% of my highest performing photos had a captionā¦ Name of place, or address for example so just carried on with that as it seems to help.
It does make the points tick along, but itās kind of insignificant because I donāt post huge amounts of photos. Itās less than 5% or so of my points.
I only add photos of the correct places, but added as updates are definitely still subject to being hidden, even nicely edited, straightened, location tagged etc etc . They donāt seem to be added any more quickly, still subject to the āupload pendingā thing. But definitely curious if the 7 day thing only impacts updates or ones added directly to photos
Let me know any thoughts if Iām misusing some features because it wouldnāt be the first thing that is misleading in the interface, thanks
I know that text has been marked at optional. I donāt think is was at first.
Not adding a text defeats the purpose of updates in my opinion. Although I need to admit that when using this feature to get an otherwise rejected photo published my texts were not really if high value. Something along these lines: This is how the storefront looked like in late september 2024ā¦
I know that update photos are carried over to also show in the normal photos tab. Are you saying the opposite is also the case?
I think we need to design a systematic test to figure out if the 7 day shuffle is also applied to photos not uploaded as an update. I doubt it.
Thanks @MortenCopenhagen , are you able to advise what the Update function is for, or was for? Any business specific updates would be via edit, hmm.
Accept Iām using it incorrectly in some way but the app just says Add Photo Update, with no extra info.
Iām only clarifying because itās going to be a big job to clear up haha
Regarding other point, when users are prompted to share photos of a place via the app, then those photos get added to the Update section. Look at high footfall places like any IKEA for a quick example, the Update section is full of photos.
I wonāt ask any more in your thread Morten, I derailed it enough.
The update feature was designed for business owners so they can share special offers, events etc. For some reason this feature got extended during the pandemic so visitors also could add updates. I doubt a lot of thoughts went into this as they mistakenly called updates ācaptionsā in our detailed contribution lists even though the term was already in use!
Hello Steve,
I donāt know what Googleās intention is or was, but I often use it when a business posts vacation dates like āclosed from ā¦ to ā¦ā, since the ātemporally closed attributeā can only be set, if the store is already closed and should only be removed when it is already open again. Posting a photo of the sign gives customers a better way to plan (e.g. āgo there, before they closeā or āwait till next weekā).
Obviously this can and should be done also by the owner, but many donāt do it or donāt even claim the business.
Not sure, but I think this is the only reason, why I might use the update feature.
Appreciate the info on when that was introduced @MortenCopenhagen , that could have been very useful during COVID. Iāll steer clear from updates from now on
Also thanks @WilfriedB
I have used it for temp closure signage when the stores donāt bother, but set via edit also, but that can be slow to be approved and removed
Just happened to me: successfully posted from-to dates about as update by customer a week ago, after they actually closed, I suggested closed temporarily, which is still pending after 3 days.
āI should just remove all updates?ā:
If a good photo shows zero views and doesnāt show upon under the āBy Youā tab, it would be worth a try to to delete and post directly to the pin, but Iām not sure, it is worth the effort.
Very cool demonstration of the new capabilities, @MortenCopenhagen - I often donāt edit my photos but this use case and your results have emphasized your point around providing the best that the POI probably deserves, especially if it may become one of the featured photos. Even aside from it being featured, it could surface as a recent photo as well and that in itself is worth taking the time to make it shine. Very interesting to see how Maps decided for some vs others.
In the Google Photos help community, I shared my concern that the perspective correction tool and the free rotation tool were gone with the new interface. I was informed that the team is working on bringing this back. This is fantastic news.
Wow, I just saw this feature on my Android device too. And you are absolutely right @MortenCopenhagen The Dynamic version works so much better than the AI Enhance one. I will certainly use this feature more regularly to upload photos to Maps.
I was hoping to play around with the new editor but my phone hasnāt received the update yet.
In future, it would be useful (to me at least) if you could list down all the edits made for each photo because the end result are quite different for some of them. That would help me understand what was done to each photo and compare them better.
My observations:
the originals are ādarkerā in tone but generally more balanced and consistent across all photos
the edited copies are varying too much. Some have too much contrast, some are too saturated, some has HDR effect too high. I actually generally prefer the original and think a simple crop/horizon balancing is all thatās needed.. oh and perhaps an autotune.
when I use the auto filter (e.g. Enhanceā¦ Iām still on the old editor), I always wonder if that is the ābestā outcome (and doesnāt need any more tuning.. except for cropping/horizon balancing) because if Google Photos auto tunes it to what it thinks is a great balance, then surely Google Maps will accept it as a greatly balanced photo too. Alas, I doubt the teams talk to each otherā¦
one thing to note when using other editorsā¦ make sure that the edited copy does not lose its original metadata or has the metadata updated (e.g. date created vs date modified = date attached to photo). I believe that Google Photos and Snapseed preserves the original metadata even after editing, but I may be wrong. Iāve considered using a desktop editing program to batch autotune the photos but I think I lose all metadata including GPS location and I worry that Google Maps will reject my photos because of the missing GPS location.
quick tip for anyone: turn up the brightness on your phoneās screen when editing. Iāve edited before with a dark screen thinking that everything was dark ā¦ but only realising once I see it on a computer screen that Iāve increased the brightness levels by too much. And obviously, compare to the original to make sure the levels arenāt too drastically different (unless the original was pretty dark too).
It is my understanding and experience that Google Photos always preserve meta data. And if you stay away from AI edits you will keep the option to āDownload the originalā. Which is very nice.
When editing and you only can āSave copy asā you will need to manually preserve the original.
Iām pretty much guided by what the Google Maps photo selection AI likes and not some personal esthetics. So it is not strange that we disagree on having a lot of contrast, saturation and HDR. I agree that brightness need to be bumped up while editing, and test viewing your images after editing on other screens can also be very helpful.
@MortenCopenhagen Youāve just reminded me of why I donāt use Google Photos much to edit: the way Google Photos save edited photos! Google Photos save the edited version in the same folder as the original file so when strolling thru my album to upload to Google Maps, both versions are in the same folder which makes it hard for me to figure out from the thumbnails which is the original and which is the edited version. Snapseed saves edited photos in a separate sub-folder so I can call up just that folder when browsing for photos to upload to Maps.
Also, I donāt delete my photos/videos that I take for Google Maps as some people do. I leave them in my Google Photos because I find them to be really useful. There are many occasions when I use the GPS locations in those photos to recall where I was when I am travelling. Apparently, most of my memories that I can remember are of food instead of places!
So having two versions of a photo in the same folder really irks me!
By the way, you should add a poll to see how many people edit their photos before uploading to Google Maps. I would guess that most donāt but it would be interesting to see how many people actually do!
7 out of 12 in the top spot is a great stat, @MortenCopenhagen. I still have yet to receive the update to my photos app. Though, many of the auto adjustments have been available.
I edit all of my images before uploading (thanks to the Storefront Series), but I tend to err on the lighter side to keep them from looking unnatural. Are all of these edits youāre showing from the āAutoā adjustment, or did you make additional adjustments?
Some, like #9, go beyond what I would push a photo. The crop is great, but the brightness and colors have drastically changed. It worked, since you got the Feature, but Iām not clear if youāve done the edits yourself or if the Photos App did them for you.
First crop the image.
Then try the Dynamic Auto filter.
If this makes the mostly pure reds, blues, and greens look too artificial, then I try the Enhance Auto filter.
Then I go to Adjust and bump up the Brightness, followed by bumping up the Blacks. This is done while visually checking (no fixed percentages).
Details and exceptions:
In maybe in 10 % of my photos I use Enhance rather than Dynamic.
In another 10 % I finish off by adjusting also the Saturation (up or down).
In another maybe 5 % I skip adding extra brightness and blacks. Typically this applies to direct sunshine storefronts
So I guess 75+ % follow the first mentioned procedure using the Dynamic Auto filter.
Thatās very detailed, thank you! The next time I do a photo walk, Iāll have to remember not to immediately delete the photos and run my originals and edits by you to see what you think could be tweaked. Iām definitely not hitting the Featured Photo as often as you.
Challenge accepted. Iāll bookmark this conversation. Fair warning, I donāt get out much when itās 110 degrees here in Phoenix, so it might take a couple months to gather up the photos
(please note that emoji doesnāt accrue points as a caption) but noticed about 90% of my highest performing photos had a captionā¦ Name of place, or address for example so just carried on with that as it seems to help.
. They donāt seem to be added any more quickly, still subject to the āupload pendingā thing. But definitely curious if the 7 day thing only impacts updates or ones added directly to photos
here in Phoenix, so it might take a couple months to gather up the photos