It all started with a photo that I posted on Google Maps, which later gotten an email from Google saying my photos have been viewed by X amount of people and has contributed to a great cause. LOL, That made my day! I am sure this is relatable to everyone in the communities.
Being promoted to local guides out of the blue is what I never expected. But welcomed, of course.
For a start, I considered myself an avid traveler and photographer. And as frequent travelers, planning is always required to make the trip more efficient and make budgeting easier. Whoâs with me on this?
Whenever I wanted to travel to a place or location, I always planned my route beforehand and looked at the photos taken by veteran Google Maps local guides as a guidance to enhance my trip and knowledge of an area. Some photos are informational, some are just plain useless, to be honest. I mean, what can your selfie help me in knowing the place of interest more?
The holy grail for a traveler is to visit a place that is less travelled. Somewhere exotic. Makes you feels like an explorer. I would very much like to share about my experiences from my past trips, using photos as a storyteller.
In my humble opinion, photos are important on Google Maps as it let us know more about the area with our own eyes, what we see is what we get. It acts as a window to access the inaccessible area with quality photos for the wheelchair disabled person, especially when StreetViewTM hasnât been there yet.
As I come from what most people considered âsemi-ruralâ area, the support and development of Google Maps was not being maintained accurately, and most of the time, places were not even registered. Photos were not useful enough. Local businesses are slowly picking up the pace to market themselves on Google Maps and they will require help to do that. I would like to be the pioneer to bridge that gap for my local communities.
My friend who opened a dental clinic back in the Year 2017 had not yet made his business known on Google Maps, it was when I volunteered to help him getting his business listed together with photos of his store front. It has been almost 2.5 years now, and yeah, his business has been doing so well and more than six thousand view of the photo of his store front by the small-town communities. It made me feel good.
The seek for true and useful information and most importantly, âquality photosâ on the giant platform that everyone uses, led to my cause to share, review and contribute information on Google Maps.
A picture speaks a thousand words!
Save the word and start taking pictures!