Street View photos not accessible via blue dot – redirected to street view instead

Google Maps tips & tricks
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1

I have created a lot of 360° photos for Street View.
After 2-3-4 days, they became visible in Street View as blue markers.
Normally, when dropping the pegman onto one of these points, you should enter the interior.
However, with some photos, I have the problem that instead of going inside, I get redirected to the street view of the nearby road…

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For example, here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EEZ4dcEvjKnxkx4a9

There is no feedback anywhere – no error message visible.

Does anyone have an idea what this could be? Has anyone experienced this before or knows who to contact?

2

Hi @anon30323556
Welcome to Connect, and thank you for asking.
I can replicate the issue on desktop, while on mobile the blue dot, even the one closest to the blue line on the street, is addressing me to your 360.
You can send a feedback about your issue directly from Google Maps, following the steps mentioned here: How to send us feedback in Google Maps - Computer - Google Maps Help
You can also address your question to the Google Maps help Community: Google Maps Community

In Connect the support for Street View was closed here ago, with the changes related to the relationship between the Local Guides and the professional activities related to the Street View photographers.
Using our Local Guides Account to promote our activity service is strictly forbidden by the Local Guides Program Terms and Conditions: “organizations, brands, and businesses aren’t eligible for the Program. You are not allowed to bundle services for hire with your Local Guide membership. ”
Local Guides in fact is a program for Volunteers, not to provide paid services. If you want to contribute as a Local Guide you can choose between removing your paid photos, or leave the program with this account and join it with a different account.
For more details please read How to be a Street View trusted photographer while also being a Local Guide
In addition from the end of December photographers that provide 360° photos cannot use the Street View Trusted logos nor the related marketing material that was provided in the past, as you can read in the Street View Trusted Help announcements “We ask that you remove the trusted badge and associated branding from your existing materials by December 31st, 2024.”
You should remove them from your website

3

Welcome to the community, @anon30323556

It’s strange that your 360° photos aren’t letting users enter the interior views when using the Pegman, instead redirecting to nearby street views. This might be due to incorrect metadata or geolocation of the photos not matching the intended interior points.

I’d suggest checking the location data for accuracy, ensuring compliance with Google’s Street View guidelines, and maybe re-uploading some photos to see if the issue persists.

Since there’s no visible error message, reporting this to Google Maps Support with the specific link you shared could be helpful.

4

Well, not really, @IgbinedionDan
What @anon30323556 uploaded is a virtual tour, it means that he used a third party software to do that. The position of each blue dot and the related metadata is managed by that software, and the blue dots in Google Maps appears on the correct position. In addition it works fine on mobile. For sure there is an issue on desktop only, that moves the user on the nearest Street View photo.
Usually this is not really a big concern, @anon30323556 , because most of the users will never explore a virtual tour on that way. Once they are visiting a business they will most probably explore the tour through the “360° photos” tab of the listing
And if a business wants to embed a tour on his website, they can easily choose the starting point(s).
But in any case it’s an issue and should be reported, and the only place to report it is the Google Maps Help Community.
There is also a Street View support page, but after the changes they only support Street View (blue lines) photographers, not the ones that are providing Virtual Tours as a business.
All the changes (removal of the SVTP badges, closure of the “for hire” section of the Street View website) are clear indicators of this choice

5

Ohh now i get it @ErmesT . Thank you

7

Dear @ErmesT,

Thank you for your message. I wasn’t aware that uploading both professional photos for businesses and private contributions (such as restaurant visits, food photos, menus, and venue images) on the same account was not allowed. I have never used my private contributions to promote my business, and I always aimed to add value to the Google community and Maps users.

I was quite surprised to receive an email from Google stating that I must either change my name and profile picture or my account will be deleted within three days. This is very disappointing, as I have put a lot of time and effort into contributing valuable content for users.

I would appreciate your guidance on the best course of action here. I do not want to delete my current account, as it contains:
a) A significant amount of work I have invested over time
b) Numerous virtual tours and photos that were uploaded for my clients, which would all be lost

On the other hand, deleting my private contributions is also problematic, as:
a) It would take an enormous amount of time
b) The community would lose valuable photos that add meaningful insights

Would it be acceptable to rename my account back to “Stefan Niemöckl Photography” and use it solely for my professional work (since it is also linked to my Google My Business profile) while creating a separate private account for my personal uploads?

Additionally, I am a bit confused, as I have never used my Local Guides activity to advertise my business. Could you clarify exactly where the issue lies?

Lastly, if someone only posts commercial content on their account, they automatically gain points and levels in the Local Guides program—even though the program is apparently meant only for volunteers and not for paid services. How should this be handled?

I would appreciate your insights and a fair solution that allows me to continue contributing to the platform while respecting the guidelines.

Regarding the issues with the virtual tour, i raised a support ticked and will try different virtual tour providers when uploading to Maps and check if they also come with the same issues :slight_smile:

Best regards,
Stefan Niemöckl

8

Thank you for the feedback, @anon30323556
Your Local Guide profile bio is addressing to your website (I have excluded it from the screenshot, but you know what I am talking about.

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In the website you are using the SVTP badge, that we are no longer allowed to use (yes, I was an SVTP too).
As removing your professional contributions will be a damage for you, what I would personally do is to leave the Local Guides program with this account and to start a new account from scratch for my contributions as a Local Guide.
Regarding the contributions there are two options: download the photos and make a copy of the reviews, then delete everything and upload them on a new account.
However it is a time consuming activity, and it will not make sense to re-upload some of them, because outdated.
As an alternative you can leave everything like it is, and restart from scratch with the new Local Guide account.
Just remember not to review places already reviewed (rating alteration) or to upload again the same photos.

What surprised me is that this change took place years ago, and I continuously see Local Guides that are contributing as Professionals with their Local Guides account.
The risk is to have the account suspended or the contributions removed. The last can be extremely painful for a business.

Good luck, and let me know if you need more help

9

If reported they will be banned from the program and the contributions removed
If they are posting on their own business they should claim the business first, and then post commercial contents, tha will appear as “posted by the owner”.
If a business is paying a photographer for creating promotional contents, then the business should upload that contents by itself, to avoid that creations being considered span

10

Thank you very much for your answer—it has clarified a lot for me, especially where the problem lies.

Regarding the SVTP badge: I thought it was simply the logo for Google Street View, which is why I included it… my mistake! Do you think it would be acceptable if I replaced it with a Google Maps icon instead?

I also understand the issue with the link to my website in my profile. Where can I change that?

And when you say that I should leave the Local Guides program with this account and create a new one, do you mean only the Local Guides Connect account—not my entire Google account that is linked to Maps, right? Because if it were the whole account, everything would be lost, and we definitely don’t want that :smiley:

Thank you for your time and effort.