Recap: [Virtual] December 06, Know Your Connect Moderator- Jan

Meet-ups
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We wrapped up our final meetup of the year with an absolutely wonderful and insightful session featuring @JanVanHaver Jason (Los Angeles, USA), and @Amiran(Iran) — and it truly couldn’t have gone better! Everything flowed smoothly and right on schedule, filled with stories, fun facts, and meaningful discussions from all three guests.

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Icebreaker – If You Were an Animal…

Since we skipped our traditional “Guess Who” segment, we tried something different — and it turned out to be a hit!
We asked our guests: “If you were an animal, what would you be?”
Here’s what they said:

  • Jason chose a dog — loyal, focused, and not easily distracted.
  • Amir went with a cat — always alert, always ready to chase the next goal.
  • Jan picked blackbirds, inspired by one of his favorite Beatles songs, Blackbird. A poetic and very Jan-like answer!

A perfect mix of personality, humor, and honesty!

:link: A Common Thread: Their Love for Edits

One beautiful discovery during the meetup was that all three guests share a deep passion for making edits on Google Maps.
Edits are known to be one of the most overlooked and underappreciated features, yet all three of our guests work tirelessly to update Maps through accurate corrections, fixes, and improvements.

This shared dedication to editing not only tied them together but highlighted how impactful this contribution can be for millions of users worldwide.

:microphone: Highlights from Jan

Jan surprised us with some fun facts we had never heard before:

  • He never passed through the “famous” Local Guide Level 4 or 5 — he jumped straight from Level 3 to Level 6!
  • He has never posted a food photo on Google Maps. (We’re still trying to process this!)

These quirky details made the session even more enjoyable.

:shield: Jason – The Google Maps Sheriff

Our self-proclaimed “Google Maps Sheriff” lived up to his nickname!
Jason talked about his efforts to fight spam on Maps and shared exciting details about a tool he is working on to help detect spammers more effectively. His dedication to keeping Maps clean and trustworthy is truly admirable.

:globe_showing_europe_africa: Amir – The Reality of Using Google Maps in Iran

Amir shared a powerful perspective about the challenges people in Iran face.
Because of government restrictions, Iranians cannot use many of the latest Google Maps features — something especially frustrating since Google Maps is extremely popular in the country.
Most Iranians rely heavily on it for navigation and transit updates, and we all shared the hope that one day these restrictions will be lifted so everyone can enjoy the full experience of Maps.

:camera_with_flash: Closing Moments

We ended the meetup with our traditional group photo session, followed by an exciting announcement:
:sparkles: Our January meetup will feature Connect Moderator Feliciana from Indonesia, joined by two other Local Guides from Indonesia.
We can’t wait!

:link: Links

:camera: You can check the photos here
:television: Missed the meetup? Not to worry. You can always watch it here.

:tada: Farewell to 2025

As this was our final meetup of the year, we wished everyone a Happy New Year 2026!
Thank you to every single Local Guide who joined, watched, or supported this series throughout the year.

A very special shout-out to @AdrianLunsong, as always, for letting us use his YouTube channel to host this series every month. Your support keeps this project alive.

Thank you all once again — see you in 2026! :globe_showing_europe_africa::yellow_heart:

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Thank you ever so much for hosting this series @SoniaK, it was a pleasure to take part.

Thanks also to @AdrianLunsong for facilitating the tech stuff and obviously to @Amiran and Jason for accepting to be my special guests! Both of them shared quite a lot of things most of us are totally unaware of, @Amiran about the challenges local guides are facing in a country where loads of Google Maps features are not available (no support for public transit, pure horror!) and Jason about the challenges he faces in tracking down fake reviews (hopefully the tools he’s working on will be available for all of us soon!)

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Thanks for this meetup @SoniaK, and Thanks to @JanVanHaver for the invitation, @Adrian for Go Loco Guides, and Jason for his technical insights about fake reviews.

Yes, as I mentioned, because of the sanctions, that aren’t something Google can handle, there are lots of limitations in Google Maps here, and the most important ones are the missing “Add review” and “Add photo” buttons on places in the app. I explained in an idea in 2018, but it was removed in the new Connect. Still, some reminders could be found in Connect, like this one.

Not having the transit partnership to have an updated transit layer is another big problem, which caused issues like this.

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Missed the session, but what a sesion, simply learning many things and seen veteran Local Guides itself was a great reward. Thank you all for Your hardwork and wishing you Merry Christmas and And a Grand Happy New Year.

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I am so sorry I missed the meetup, you know my usual @SoniaK Glad to hear everything was running really good for all the participants. @JanVanHaver I missed a wonderful meetup

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Thank you for joining us, Jan! It was so nice hearing from you — especially those fun facts about you. I’ll keep patiently waiting for the day you finally post a food photo on Maps. :wink:

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No worries Trisha. It was pretty late for you anyway. Hope to have you in our future meetups sometimes. Thank you for your kind words.

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Totally understandable, Erna. It’s alright that you missed the meetup. But the best thing about these meetups is you can always read the recap or even watch the recorded version. Hope you can catch up.