Introduction:
This post is all about the photos contributed to Google Maps by Local Guide from all over the world. More specifically, it’s about the views that these photos rack up. It consists of a series of leaderboards showcasing the view counts of these photos. There’s a leaderboard for each Local Guide level and in this way you don’t have to be a “top gun” level 10 Local Guide with a mega million views to participate and so you can also join in!
Whether you’re an entry level Local Guide or from a small country, town or village, or a top level Local Guide from London, New Delhi or New York, you can join in and it’s simple to do! If you want to jump on board, then use this link to register or if you want some help then add a comment in this post and someone will jump in to help you.
Why are photo views important?
We all know that as Local Guides we don’t get points for the views that our contributions generate! However, views are important as they give us a pretty good indication on how we are impacting on our communities at the Local Guide level. For example, they give us a good indication on how many people we have helped make a decision such as what place to visit or what meal to have. So while we don’t get points for photo views, we certainly get an awesome feeling when we see that our photos are being viewed by many people and being visible across Google services, like Search, means that our photo view counts can increase significantly and you will see on the Leaderboards in this post, how significant this can be.
Is this just a competition?
While there is an inherent competitive element within them, the Leaderboards are more than just about seeing who has the “best” photos or the most photo views, far from it! They have been specifically designed to motivate us, help us to monitor our contributions and performance, and show us how to improve and make better contributions so that we achieve better results, and all in a fun and enjoyable way!
So now it’s your turn. Are you interested in improving the quality of your Maps contributions so that you can achieve better outcomes in terms of views and impact on your community? If so hit this link and join the hundreds of high achieving Local Guide from across the world.
If you’re new here then you may not be aware that this post forms part of a series of leaderboard posts each covering different aspects of the Maps contributions made by Local Guides. To see an index to these different leaderboard posts and all posts associated with them, simply hit this link.
The cover image:
Forgive the personal indulgence here but the cover photo is one I took while on a recent holiday in beautiful Port Douglas, nestled between the azure waters of the Coral Sea and the lush greenery of the Daintree Rainforest in the tropical far north of Queensland, Australia. As well as the many sidewalk cafes, restaurants and quaint boutiques and artisanal shops that line the main streets of Port Douglas, my lady and I came across this beautiful chapel set amongst majestic palms and a backdrop of the sea.
Most of you will have seen this photo before as it’s my entry in the recent Share a review or photo of a monument on Google Maps challenge! However, I deliberately only included a small screenshot in my entry for this challenge as I wanted to save the larger-size for this post 
I really do hope that you like the photo as much as I do. By the way, Port Douglas is where adventurers prepare to set sail into the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living organism, where an underwater paradise awaits. I highly recommend your visit there. If you’d like to read my review of St Mary’s, here’s the link!
However, congratulations to 
