Apart from adding places, pictures, writing reviews and editing places on Google Maps, I love to host outstation meetups and publish curated lists of places. To list a few, here are some of them:
- 5 Safe Places for hidden couples in Hyderabad
- Mumbai cheap eats
- 7 Wonders of Hyderabad
- Kolkata - tourist places to visit
Even I hosted a meetup to address the same. Here is the [Recap] How to Create and Share lists on Google Maps?
This year was pretty awesome, I hosted 3 outstation meetups.
- Bangalore Geo Walk: In this meetup, we visited Gopalan Signature Mall, one of the crowded malls in Bangalore and added new places & pictures on Maps. What I found here was the people prefer public transport and use Google Maps for navigation, transit timings and other details. Even I took the help of Google Maps for train navigation, it was a pretty nice experience and the timings were exact. Here I met Srivastav, Sai Teja and Suresh and got to know the history of Bangalore and why it is called as the Silicon Valley of India. Because of the large number of IT companies present, there are many successful startups.
- Aurangabad Photo Walk: Aurangabad is the “City of Gates” consisting of 52 gates and has 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves. We had a visit to one of them, Ellora Caves where a mountain is carved into 40 caves which include a pathway, statues of animals and humans, a story scripted on walls using a sign language and much more. Here I met Shoeb (a level 7 local guide) and got to know that Aurangabadi’s mostly use Google Maps for live traffic navigation, pictures and for a roadblock (if any). The Local Guides in Aurangabad are evolving and many of them are not connected. It would be great if Shoeb regularly hosts meetups and create awareness among other local guides."Sculptures were highly symmetric, equal-sized and beautiful carved". Now comes the Bibi Ka Maqbara, a replica of Taj Mahal (in Agra) which comes under 7 Wonders of the World. Have a look at the below picture:
- Bogatha Waterfall Photo Walk: This is a seasonal waterfall which operates only from October to December every year attracting tourists from across South India. Bogatha is the nearest waterfall (around 200 miles away) from Hyderabad. I recommend visiting this place on a car/bike to enjoy nature and awesome cool weather. I added in one of my comments that the Zip-lines are under construction. And I hope it gets ready by the end of this year.From waterfall to a place similar to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge known as Laknavaram Lake. This place is a cheap picnic spot for having a boat ride or to capture beautiful pictures on the rope bridge.
Hosting outstation meetups helps me to explore different places, know their culture, share my knowledge and learn how they’re using Google Maps to make their lives easier. I wish I can host one in San Francisco.