I just received a reminder that my Google storage is full, and emails will even stop if I don’t upgrade. As Local Guides, we contribute a lot of photos to Google Maps, and many of us also back up our photos to Google Photos. Over time, this takes up a huge amount of storage.
I know in the past, some people received storage bonuses from Google at certain Local Guide levels, but now it seems that benefit is no longer available. I personally don’t have this bonus either.
My question to the community:
Where is the best online storage that everyone uses?
Do you use external drives, other cloud services, or only Google Photos?
Any tips on managing storage without losing valuable contributions?
My suggestion: Since Local Guides are making big contributions with photos that help millions of users every day, maybe Google could consider offering some storage bonus for active Local Guides again. I think it would be a great way to support the community.
Personally I don’t create a back up of the pics… once I have uploaded them to Google Maps, I delete them from my mobile. If I ever need a photo, it’s easier for me to look up the place and then my review/photos-uploaded-by-me in the profile of the place, so Google keeps them for me hehehe.
Have you ever used the ones you backed-up after uploading them?
As a long-time participant in the various Google Help Forums, I will NOT use Google Photos. I’ve seen too many horror stories with people losing access to their Gmail because their account is over quota due to photos, videos, and other documents. I’ve also seen my wife reach the limit of her account quota due to photo storage.
Strange enough, none of Google’s paid services are available to us where I live, so I cannot risk running out of free space. But I always have access to Microsoft OneDrive, so that’s my preferred option.
I’ve also seen other LGs suggest that there’s no need to keep the photos after uploading, but anyone who knows me well, know that I have a reluctance to delete anything, not just photos. And that’s both work and personal.
That offer was given to a few local guides back in 2016-17, afaik. Even they lost access to that space nearly 2019-2020, based on the timeframe they got access. To properly manage this, I’d recommend you to turn the reduced setting backup and clean the useless data via going to the space management. I had been a local guide since Jan 2017 and my Gmail says you have 12Gb space available.
Let me know if you need more insights on that.
About perks-local guides receive perks based on their contribution, and there are no written details of specific perk.
My question to the community:
My suggestion: Since Local Guides are making big contributions with photos that help millions of users every day, maybe Google could consider offering some storage bonus for active Local Guides again. I think it would be a great way to support the community.