Apart from energizing me to explore the world around me in great detail, and connecting me with friends all over the world, the most interesting thing I’ve done as a Local Guide is add photos to Google Maps. By adding these photos, I’m able to help travelers. Here’s a look at some of the pictures I’ve added and my personal impact:
The Taj Mahal’s Great Gate: There are a lot of photos of Taj Mahal’s Great Gate on internet but they are not very much clear and travelers couldn’t imagine how big or beautiful it would be. I made a big impact by adding this photo to the map – it’s been viewed over 650,000 times! When I, my wife and my son visited there we were just speechless. We never imagine how big, beautiful, gorgeous only a gate could be. Now travelers could imagine by viewing this photo that how this gate would be in real life.
Nishat Bagh: In October 2018, I traveled Kashmir with my family and visited Nishat Bagh. It is a terraced Mughal garden built on the eastern side of the Dal Lake, close to Srinagar in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is the largest Mughal garden in the Kashmir Valley. ‘Nishat Bagh’ is Urdu (language), and means the “Garden of Joy,” “Garden of Gladness” and "Garden of Delight”.
Artist’s paint landscape painting, also known as landscape art. When I saw this sight the first thing in my mind came that it is as like as a painting. I clicked this scenery with my shaky hands and instantly thought it’s my duty to add this photo to google map, thus travelers could find this place easily.
Taqdeer: A local small multi cuisine restaurant located at the heart of Chittagong. Last month I went there to take dinner. The interior of the restaurant is not very rich but one of the wall of that restaurant attracted me. Bunch of colorful paintings ware hanging together. I captured that wall with my mobile and uploaded it in google map while waiting for food. Today when I’m writing this I realize it’s been viewed over 1350 times. That means a lot of foodies got attracted with this photo when they search for this restaurant. It’s very satisfying for me to help anyone to imagine a place through my photos.
Adding new photos to Google Maps is a dynamic way to make an impact. Through this small action, I’m able to help anyone to imagine what they’re going to experience; help a small business grow; or make a new friend. I’m grateful for a map that serves people worldwide while also being maintained with constantly updated data by those same people. Adding photos—and the impact those photos have had—is the most interesting thing I’ve done as a Local Guide!