In the last 8 years, I have uploaded photos of almost 400 places on Google Maps. In this long period, some businesses have shut down, and some have changed their locations. Generally, experienced local guides report businesses as “permanently closed” when they shut down and move the map marker when businesses move to a new place.
But some inexperienced local guides incorrectly report closed businesses as “doesn’t exist”, which removes the entire POI (Point of Interest), along with the reviews and photos uploaded on the POI. While reviews are lost entirely, the photos and videos remain visible in the profiles of the local guides who uploaded them. These are not just photos and videos but relics from the past, which may portray the vibes and cultures of places and businesses that closed down for unfortunate reasons and contain valuable memories to the residents nearby.
Apart from closed businesses, sometimes open and running businesses and points of interest are deleted from the Maps as well, which creates confusion and problems regarding navigation for Map users. Today, I am going to share such photos with Connect of 5 deleted places that I had uploaded to Maps.
- M&N Fashion Khulna Outlet:
This was a clothing store outlet, which recently shifted to a new location. But, instead of updating the address, the POI was removed from the maps.
- Top in Town Restaurant:
This restaurant opened in 2018 near the city center of Khulna and closed down in 2022. It had a unique marketing tactic to attract customers by naming and decorating the food items based on trending topics on social media, which literally made “Top in Town Restaurant” the “talk of the town” every once in a while. Sadly, the restaurant shut down, and it has been removed from Maps as well.
- Orjon monument:
This monument is located at the city center of Khulna. I added it to the maps with this photo. Weeks later, it was deleted from maps. The monument still exists.
- Afil Auditorium:
It is a convention center in Khulna. The incident was the same as 3. It is still open.
- Eighth Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge:
Although it is now visible on maps, it wasn’t a week ago. I found out that the POI of this bridge had been deleted. Then I wrote on Google Maps Help Community about it to restore the place. I had arguments with a bronze member and a silver product expert about whether deleted places can be restored on Maps or not. Finally, a diamond expert product agreed with me that deleted places can be restored upon escalation. Thus, he informed me that he would look into it. Within a few days, the POI was restored.
Conclusion:
Deletion of existing places is a major nuisance on Maps. Efforts should be made to verify such deletion reports before implementation, and local guides can come forward to help in this regard. The “check the facts” feature can be restored so that experienced local guides can fact-check and verify these kinds of edits.