Apart from adding new places, sharing reviews, comments and photos, the most interesting thing that I often find myself doing is helping people find places in their own city. Yes, you read it right!
In India, while the newer generation is tech savvy and comfortable with using maps, the older generation finds it a bit difficult to use them and often find themselves lost in this fast paced, rapidly changing and developing world. Though my hometown is a small city named Nagpur in India, I recently moved to Bengaluru a few months back and got to experience this in person.
I often go out for long walks (8-10 kms.) on weekends and find myself helping people find places around the area almost every time. Bengaluru, being a metropolitan city, has people coming from all over the country and also nearby rural areas. These people often get overwhelmed by the vastness of the city and face difficulty in navigating through the busy roads. Also, the native language here is Kannada, which I do not speak and yet, with the help of maps and Google Translate, I am able to help them most of the times.
Not boasting, but the fact that I can guide people in a city which even I am new to gives me a sense of power and confidence to roam around without the fear of getting lost. I really feel that internet, translate and maps is a kind of superpower which enables each one of us to go beyond the limits of our knowledge and explore the world like never before.
Here are some of the places nearby Bengaluru I added in last few months. An interesting fact to note here is one of these pics has alone garnered over 201,000 views. Have a look at the photos I added and the views they’ve received:
Views: 201,267
Views: 1,170
Views: 2,594
Views: 831
Some other pics which have received significant amount of views:
I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a whole new world out there for all of us to explore. I hope Maps keeps helping me with the exploration and I, as a Local Guide, keep helping people around me find new places and get to all the places they want to. ?