Seems google algorithm does like people! AKA Getting photos featured

Google Maps contribution stories
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Well, as you said, getting people in your photo or at least have people with recognizable faces in your photos posted publicly is forbidden, not only in UK, but in many other countries, and should be avoided if you don’t have an explicit permission, @user_not_found .

I would not suggest to “take photo without being too much noticed”, because this is the wrongest thing to do. What if tomorrow I find in Google Maps a photo of me posted without my permission, maybe in a place where I was not supposed to be? What if i decide to get a bit of money from the photographer, for violation of my privacy?

Personally, I would suggest you to remove that kind of photos, for respecting the privacy of the people and to stay on the safe side.

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Hi @user_not_found

Thanks for posting your experiences with photographing storefronts and dealing with your wife’s shopping urge. I get it :joy: :heart_eyes:

I think your experiences align well with what I learned over the years, but I would like your opinion on the following :

Uploading more than one photo to each business is not something I would recommend. Always upload only your best shot. This will make the average quality of the photos better and it is more helpful to Maps users.

Also, if you are motivated by getting a lot of views on your photos the average number of views per photo will go up a lot when you only upload the very best click.

It is quite surprising that the algorithm selects shots with people walking in front of the shops. I think your examples with mannequins can be explained by other factors (close up, Store name visible, good lighting, etc) since I suspect the algorithm selecting the best pics is able to distinguish between mannequins and people outside in most shots.

Also, I think none of the people show recognizable faces in your shots. Most are taken from behind. This is probably also picked up by the AI.

So I would not go as far as recommending having people in from of stores if you can avoid it.

I think the AI likes “no people” better than “unrecognizable people”. And recognizable faces should always be avoided as specifically mentioned in the guidelines.

I started a series of posts on Storefront Photography for Google Maps in the best Facebook group for Local Guides. I don’t know if it is okay to share the link here, but the relevance is really high so I will try to share the link here. So far there are 4 posts, but there will be a new one coming every week for a while.

Cheers

Morten

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PS I think Google stopped using the word Featured when notifying us about our photos being shown.

In this image you should have blurred the faces to protect the privacy of the people.

Cheers

Morten

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@MortenCopenhagen

Featured still in use, as far as I can see from my notification. maybe it depends of the language settings

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Thanks, @ErmesT

I just re-checked. When I set the App language to English the in-app notifications are still shown in Danish! So I guess the language in the notifications probably depends on the settings as the notification is “issued”.

“Featured” in Danish is translated in the notifications as something more generic like “being shown”.

Cheers

Morten

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Yes you are right @MortenCopenhagen

The message depends of the setting of the language in the app when the notification is released

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@user_not_found

Thanks for your reply.

I’m not aware of any reasonable paths we can use to suggest out of season cover photos to be replaced.

Cheers

Morten

PS Shop owners have an option to select a preferred photo to be used as the cover photo. That could be an avenue you could test.

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Well, I am sorry for my mistake, @user_not_found , because I should have added “in many countries”, but now I can better understand the meaning of your post.

In fact in the European Community, you can take and publish photos of people with visible faces without a written permissions only in three cases:

  • The subject of the photo is “famous”
  • The photo is published for reasons related to justice, or scientific research.
  • The person photographed is participating in a public event, i.e. Venice carnival, or a Street parade, where photos are usually taken

So be careful if you are traveling abroad.

In addition Google have an high consideration about privacy, and for this reason face and car plates are blurred in Street View. In my opinion this is a good practice in any case