Name : Arun George (Engineer by profession and photographer by passion)
Local Guide Level : 8
Location : Kochi, Kerala, India
What does the Local Guides program mean to me:
I have been actively contributing to Google Maps since I joined the program a few years ago because the Google Local Guides program empowers me to share my unique experience with people all around the world.
I am an avid Google user and I rely on information given by others such as reviews and photos, when I visit new places. All these information is very important to me, so I decided to be a part of this, hence that’s how it all started. I started taking pictures and posting it online and it actually started helping people and that’s how I became a Proud Local Guide.
Google Local Guides program helped me to connect with other Local Guides in Kerala and I got a lot of new experiences. Being a Local Guide is a responsibility to check the facts and provide accurate information to the best of our ability while adding new places or photos or other information which will help many other people. Even though the task seems small, every contribution from a Local Guide enriches the experience. As a Local Guide I can add missing places, missing information, photos and can even write reviews and answer questions about the place and it’s amazing how I can do it with only a passion and a smartphone. 
Local Guides Meet Ups and Local Guides Connect has always been a great opportunity to meet and share knowledge with other Local Guides from various cities as well as countries. And I got help even from the ones I don’t know in person.
I find satisfaction when I help business owners or others to add new places/business in Google Maps. I teach and help business owners how to add and manage their business in Google Maps and to drive some traffic to their website, which in turn helps them to grow their business. Through my local additions I made, local places became more accessible by sharing relevant information about these places. I am so grateful and proud that many people have read my reviews and viewed my photos.
As a Google Maps user, the contributions from other Local Guides also helped me a lot in finding my destinations/new places that I want to visit.
I have uploaded more than 5000+ photos which includes favorite tourist destinations and other attractions and even some of my photos received more than 100,000 views. Adding places and photos of tourist destinations in my area is actually helping the tourism industry to get more tourists from different parts of the state as well as from various other countries. Knowing my contributions on Google Maps helps other people all over the world makes me very proud.
What I love about being a Local Guide:
Traveling has always been my passion along with discovering new places. Work life had kept me busy thus traveling meant I could escape the daily hustle and bustle of life. I live in a beautiful village in Kerala, commonly known as Gods Own Country in the south of India. Well, exploring India was my motto but then I realized I don’t know much about my own state and hence started my little journeys. I have been sharing snippets of my travels through photos and reviews on Google Maps and have received tremendous response which has only encouraged me to go further. India is a country with diverse people, food and cultures and I love to add all these information on Google Maps so that I could help my fellow travelers to travel better.
Being a Local Guide allows me to help everyone to understand more about places that I have visited through words and photos. It’s amazing how you can follow your love for exploring by just a few clicks away and how it has actually helped many who share my passion.
My story and experience about the Local Guides program will take many more pages to write down. I hope my contributions are helping people all over the world and I will continue my contributions on Google Maps in the future and always.