Photo marathon report July 2026

MortenCopenhagen · July 14, 2026, 12:50pm

On Friday, July 10th 2026, I went on my longest-ever photowalk to capture storefronts for Google Maps.

I already teased about this here.

So I ended up with 377 photos on the day. When I started the editing process, I soon noticed a few duplicates, odd photos of my feet(!), bad lighting (too harsh light) etc. A few failed to upload (naked sculpture and 2 businesses where photos were blocked or not yet opened).

Here are they are:

Nudity is often an issue on Google Maps. Come on, guys! Even an appeal did not help:

This video from a Christmas tree farm could not be uploaded because it is out of season (temporarily closed). Fair enough.

This restaurant opens tomorrow, so it is fair enough we can’t add photos before the grand opening.

From the place page:

This photo of a massage parlor was rejected. But approved after my appeal:

I’m impressed that no photos were rejected for unexplainable reasons. This is a huge improvement from earlier.

Now to the results

Out of the 343 uploaded photos:

88 became the cover photo/video
73 became features as photo #2
49 became featured as #3
57 became featured as #4 or #5
17 became featured as #6-10
12 became features as #11 or higher
47 showed up as Photo updates from visitors.

In other words
88*100/343 became the cover photo/video
This is 25 percent. Not bad!

(73+49)*100/343 became featured as #2 or #3.
This is 36 percent. Pretty good!

57*100/343 became featured as #4 or #5.
This is 17 percent.

So out of 343 photos 78 percent got featured as one of the first 6 photos.

47*100/343 is 13 present “only” showed up under Updates from visitors.

I noticed that when I could not find a photo under the All photos tab and then opened Updated from visitors and the returned to the All photos tab the photo then was shown as the last photo. I can’t explain this. And it sure means that my stats can be off. I did not bother repeating all the checks to compensate for this.

If you care to see all my photos please check my open profile on Google Maps.

Below you can find a small selection of the 343 photos with some notes.

This is from a newly build shop center entrance. It’s in the shadows, but still it became featured as #2.

This jeweler was on the shadow side of the street. Still it turned out good after editing.

Notice the hard shadow over the name.

I’m not proud of this image. A lot of editing was needed as the facade was in the shade. Still it became the cover image.

Again a shadow pic that turned out better than I expected.
Here is how it presents cropped by Google Maps:

Notice the importance of horisontal centering in Maps photos.

Last example:

It was difficult to balance the sunlight and the details in the shadows.
Here is how it turned out:

I hope you learned some tricks.

Cheers

Ssiddharth2000 · July 14, 2026, 1:05pm

Fantastic details of the photo marathon @MortenCopenhagen The photos which were not uploaded to the ones which had details like shadow and angle was amazing to read. It’s like a guidebook of taking the best storefront photos. 377 photos in a day is superb

efcxp · July 14, 2026, 1:19pm

I’ve definitely got some tips @MortenCopenhagen.

From someone that also enjoy update none/old storefronts, your post was way too interesting. So outstanding quality photos.

Thanks for sharing your insights…I mean, your strategy on @TerryPG’s race.

TitikMariati · July 14, 2026, 1:46pm

Bapak @MortenCopenhagen , Masyaa Allah bapaaak gmn kabarnyaaaa semoga sehat selalu njih bapak,
Bapak terima kasih sudah berbagi dengan Titik mengenai banyak hal. Sumpah deh pak, sakit kepala saya kalau mau jujur, ini yang namanya semakin kita belajar semakin bodoh itu nyata xixixi, bapak lo menjelaskan dasi semua sisi dengan fasih. Titik mikir di setiap kalimat bapak . Saya skrol geser lagi yang mana maksudnya nanti kurnag paham saya baca ulang Ya Allah bapak keren banget . Intinya terima kasih njih Bapak sudah berbagi pengalaman sekaligus di jelaskan dengan detail. Nih PR lagi nih buat Titik kudu semanagat belajar lagi. Sehat terus njih Bapak

Bharatbhanjana · July 14, 2026, 2:17pm

Hard work. Informative details.

indahnuria · July 14, 2026, 5:08pm

Thank you so much for sharing this @MortenCopenhagen . I get more tips & tricks for taking the ideal store fronts for Google Maps. As much as I can, I try to replicate your photos while taking front part of shops, hotels, buildings and more. Thank you once again.

Best regards,

M_Yones · July 14, 2026, 5:48pm

Thanks @MortenCopenhagen for the tips.

HUMBERTO_V · July 14, 2026, 6:26pm

Después de esto, ya noe quedan dudas de porqué te sigo con tanto interés… Felicidades…

TerryPG · July 14, 2026, 6:35pm

Great photos as always @MortenCopenhagen , Local guides can learn so much following your thoughts.

TitikMariati · July 15, 2026, 1:52am

Bapak @MortenCopenhagen, Titik mohon izin bertanya njih bapak mengenai patung di atas . Kalau Titik foto seperti ini boleh tidak bapak? Kan patungnya ga kelihatan sih cuba bingung makanya pas banget bapak berbagi informasi ini , Titik manfaatkn kesempatan untuk bertanya. Sebelum dan sesudahnya terima kaish njih bapak.

MortenCopenhagen · July 15, 2026, 3:13am

I believe you are asking if your two photos are appropriate for uploading to Google Maps.

The answers would be: No. Not because of the statues but because the focus of the photos are people. We cannot share selfies and group photos on Maps.

I can’t predict if the spamfilters would accept or reject the sculptures without the people in the shots.

TitikMariati · July 15, 2026, 3:34am

@MortenCopenhagen Oalah begitu , Ya Allah berarti Titik banyak salah dong selama ini. Alhamdulillah Titik berani bertanya sehingga mendapatkan jawaban yang tepat. Baik Bapak , Titik siyap salah dan Insyaa Allah ke depan tidak terulang kembali. Harus banyak belajar . Google memang dunia baru Bapak untuk Titik. Terima kasih dan semoga kebaikan Bapak Allah membalasnya dengan kebaikan yang berlipat ganda . Aamiin Ke depan kl Titik ada keliru mohon bapak langsung beritahu ya Bapak agar Titik dapat segera perbaiki terus dan terus . Semoga ke depan jauh lebih baik . Semangat

abermans · July 15, 2026, 8:14pm

@MortenCopenhagen Great post. Very helpful for encouraging photo marathons and keeping maps fresh.

I never bothered to check the stats of an entire upload “batch” but as I take you for an expert “store fronter”, this is quite good featuring stat.

I believe featuring is shorter lived than it used to be these days.

It would be interesting to track the same batch in few weeks.

I used to have 1st featured stuck for months and even years. Now they seem only to stick for weeks or few days.

MortenCopenhagen · July 15, 2026, 11:16pm

Hi @abermans

I agree.

As a consequence it also became easier to get your photos featured. I think the change happened in November or December 2025.

TerryPG · July 16, 2026, 12:18am

Totally agreeing with this thought @MortenCopenhagen and @abermans Unfortunately they don’t all last forever these days as the feature.

doni_hariadi · July 16, 2026, 3:34am

Terima kasih untuk ilmunya pak @MortenCopenhagen
saya juga sudah meriset dan mengaplikasikan ke unggahan saya di google maps.

beberapa dari foto saya dijadikan foto sampul oleh algoritma, ini membuat saya senang. dan bertahan hampir beberapa bulan, bahkan sampai sekarang. khususnya tempat-tempat besar yang sering dikunjungi orang-orang.
ini beberapa contoh beberapa lokasi dan semoga tidak berganti

McDonald’s - Basuki Rahmat

KFC - Adityawarman

Porsche Centre Surabaya

masih ada beberapa yang lain, bisa dilihat sendiri di profile saya.

nah saya masih penasaran bagaimana agar foto kita masuk di suatu kota/wilayah tertentu yang pastinya itu akan membuat views lebih banyak.

saya perhatikan memang benar foto-foto terbaik yang bisa masuk kesana. tapi saya juga ingin salah satu foto saya juga masuk.

apakah ada saran dari anda pak @MortenCopenhagen ?

Anil6969 · July 16, 2026, 4:19am

Thanks for sharing @MortenCopenhagen

As usual your each post add some value with tricks and tips for the community.

Keep updating.. regards

MortenCopenhagen · July 16, 2026, 5:34am

Hello hello, @doni_hariadi

I checked your 3 linked photos. I hope it is okay that I inserted a low res copy of your photos to make it easier for other LGs to follow our discussion.

McD

What a lovely night photo. Perfect balance between the indoor light, and the signs. This is not easy to make. How did you edit it?

By the way, on my Android phone your image is featured as #3 not #1.

KFC

Great to see you got the blue sky. (I missed that in your McD image).

Again a great shot. I love the intense red surrounding the white KFC letters top left. My camera and editing makes it difficult to reproduce this. Well done. Or give me some tips in this. I struggle with intense red and green. They often get “over cooked” when making other parts of an image look their best.

I don’t like the fact that the vertical sides are leaning inwards (because you tilted your camera slightly upwards). Yuu need to move back further, tilt down a bit and zoom or crop to reframe. Or fix the perspective in post. There is a tutorial on this in my storefront tutorial.

Also, the dark tree in the center obstructs the view of the restaurant a bit. But it is certainly better than having cars there.

If the sky was even more intense dark blue it would have be even better.

It is featured 2 in my end.

Porsche

Please check the link. It is not opening in my end.

doni_hariadi · July 17, 2026, 1:20am

maaf telat mereplay @MortenCopenhagen

sejujurnya gambar itu tanpa editan sama sekali, saya hanya mengambil gambar langsung dengan memposisikan dengan baik agar bangunan dan informasinya disana masuk semua di dalam frame.

oh begitu ya? saja juga kurang paham, karena di tampilan desktop saya yang sudah saya posting diatas gambar saya itu sebagai cover tempat tersebut.
bisa jadi memang berbeda di pengguna lain. saya akan memahami ini.

ini benar sekali, mengapa saya agak condongkan keatas supaya bendera yang ada di gambar tidak terpotong. saya ingin sesuatu yang utuh, jadi saya coba memposisikan supaya masuk di dalam frame foto.

itu saran yang bagus di edit supaya lurus agar terlihat jelas, atau nanti saya mecoba mengambil gambar lebih luas supaya tampilannya terlihat sempurnya. apakah ini yang disukai AI Google maps?

karena seingat saya, gambar ini diambil sore hari, jadi warnanya sudah mulai gelap.

coba anda klik tautan ini, apakan bisa ?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Porsche+Centre+Surabaya/@-7.2949822,112.7321333,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sCIABIhBIjcIha10IxL4aGmlkIKLV!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fgps-cs-s%2FAHRPTWkm196x0QFocPcUDqYcVB3YXCBLySrDrQsPj0V0RjpD1xNOZ0fZd52yHI46ew0Xv84HoUXBP9hpskcmFohb3G4rRLEZirKA6xd21_uibXdy_xZwR7cIXaOZVMALcnfUgsGHDHYwpg_8R21Q%3Dw114-h86-k-no!7i4080!8i3060!4m7!3m6!1s0x2dd7fb9127481407:0xbd71f167d1e61a6!8m2!3d-7.295092!4d112.732014!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F11bccjt8dg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDcxNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

entah kenapa link aslinya begitu panjang

MortenCopenhagen · July 17, 2026, 1:39am

This is the short link to Porsche

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VK7EqPc7pyD8DujEA?g_st=ac

Just use the share button.

I think you did great to have the pillar located just left of the store name. But you missed having both centered in your shot. So when Google do an auto-crop to a tall (portrait) version the name will not show in its entirety.

You could argue that the temporary fence in the foreground is an unnecessary distraction.

The image is #5 on my end.

What type of camera/phone are you using?

All the best