Earlier this year,when I saw the new development, the photopath, on the streetview app. My first reaction was I’ll never get involved in this. I have done well to get me streetview trusted photograph badge and that’s good enough. I’ll keep contributing on that one and that’s okay,but like the local guides that we are committed to improving the maps. I couldn’t keep away.
I decided to try it out sometime in January and wow I got an Early Adopter Badge . That prompted me to keep contributing and recording more photopath videos. Some weeks ago, I achieved the first milestone on the app The streetview master badge. I feel quite happy and excited about it. It’s a rare badge for now, it’s not common. I have only seen one prominent local guide with it,maybe there are many more I don’t know. The feature itself is just about a year old.
- One thing about this photopath is that it’s data intensive. Uploading it is quite slow and it consumes alot of data. Sometimes even after uploading it could end up not been published if anything went wrong when recording. For instance if your hands were not stable or the driving was too rough etc. I got many of such. It’s not nice.
- You’ll need very stable pair of hands. To be able to keep your hands pointed. I recorded it all, holding the phone with my hands. I suppose you could use the mobile phone holder alright but I opted for my hands.
- You’ll need a good phone as well,because some phones over heat when recording this.
- Lastly sometime ago I even lost some kilometers for whatever reason I don’t know. I laid my complaints as usual, and I got no reasonable answer. It was part of the game.
I feel happy for my new badge. I believe you can do it too. It’s all our responsibility as local guides to keep contributing and improving the maps.
Cheers