Caption: The cover image shows the homepage of the Top 100 Leaderboard System featuring a photo of the Allaire Village, Wall Township, NJ, United States, taken by Google Maps Level 10 Local Guide @marcorp.
As Local Guides it’s often amazing which of all of our many photos that we contribute to Google Maps has the most views. We have come to call this our star photo and this post is all about such stars. It includes a set of leaderboards that showcase the star photos of hundreds of Local Guides from all over the world and presents a detailed comparative analysis of their performance.
We all have a star photo, so you can join in to showcase yours and it’s simple to do. Register for participation on the Leaderboards here or just leave a comment below and someone will jump in to help you.
So what can you learn from the Star Photos Leaderboards?
Well from the very detailed analysis of the star photos of the hundreds of participating Local Guides from all over the world, you can learn a lot about what type of places and what type of photos seem to get the most views on Google Maps and remember, views are important as they provide a fairly good indication on how helpful your photos are to Maps users.
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 the posts associated with them, simply hit this link.
Readme - How to Read the Star Photos leaderboards (April, 2025)
Briefly, this is what you need to know about the leaderboards in this post. For more details see the leaderboard documentation and the Leaderboard System’s online context-sensitive help information.
The leaderboards in this post present details about the star photos of hundreds of participating Local Guides from all over the world. We all have a star photo, it’s our photo that has the most views and we call these, the star views.
As well as an overall leaderboard, you will see leaderboards for different Local Guide levels which provide you with direct comparisons of your star photo’s views performance with that of your peers. Finally, there’s a leaderboard ranking the top 100 star photos by average star views per day which gives an indication on how good your star photo is. To be included in this leaderboard, your star photo’s views must have been updated in each of the last 2 consecutive months.
The average star views per day is calculated by dividing the star views by the life of the star photo expressed in days. The life of the star photo is equal to the number of days between when you first uploaded your star photo on Maps and the date that you last updated the star views and thus, will be different for each participating Local Guide. Therefore, for accuracy of the information it is important you enter the correct dates. When it comes to the date that you last updated the star views, point #2 above is very important.
As well as the star views and the date uploaded onto Maps, each listing on the leaderboards shows the Maps Category, and a description (e.g. Storefront, Building or Park) of the respective Local Guide’s star photo.
Hovering over any star photo’s Uploaded Date will display that star’s screenshot date.
If the Maps Category of a star photo is shown as a link and if the name of the relevant Place of Interest was provided by the respective Local Guide, then hovering over that link will show you the name of the place and selecting that link will take you to a screenshot with details of that place as stored on the Local Guides, 2026 Star Photos post, a “photo album” if you will, of star photos.
If the Maps Category of a star photo is shown on a colored background then that star photo has been selected as one of the best that meets the formatting requirements as specified in the Local Guides, 2026 Star Photos post. Select that star photo’s category and see why it has been rated as one of the best and read more about that star photo on the “photo album” post.
Preceding some of the leaderboards, you may see a number of featured star photos. If so, these are a selection from those that best meet the requirements as detailed in the Local Guides, 2026 Star Photos post.
Where shown, around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this is the first time that the Local Guide has participated on the Top 100 Local Guides leaderboards.
Where shown, ( ) around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this Local Guide levelled up/down onto this leaderboard.
An asterisk (*) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Connect Moderator.
Double asterisks (**) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Googler.
Hovering over a Local Guide’s username will display the integration number that integrates that Local Guide’s details on the Leaderboards System and Connect; the umbilical chord if you will between the two disparate systems.
Selecting a Connect username will take you to either that Local Guide’s Connect Profile or to their HUB.
If a number is displayed in small gray circle following a username, that number indicate the number of times anyone has selected that username to visit the respective Local Guide’s Connect profile or HUB.
Local Guides suspended or who have left the Local Guides program as well as those who have hidden their Maps profile are excluded from the Leaderboards.
If you have changed (a) your Connect username, or (b) your Maps profile name or (c) your Maps profile status from public to hidden or vice versa then you may not appear on one or more of the leaderboards. If so then you must provide the details in a comment on this post.
Local Guides that have not updated their star photo details in the month covered by the Star Photo leaderboards will be excluded from the Average Views/Day leaderboard.
A ? or the words “Not set” in a cell indicates that the respective value cannot be determined or hasn’t been provided by or for the respective Local Guide.
The data for the leaderboards in this post was read at 0630 on Monday, May 2, 2026 (UTC).
Local Guides included on the leaderboards must check their entries for any errors. If you should find any errors or omissions, please add the details in a comment on this post. Regarding omissions, please note point 19 above.
I love having the top spot on the Avg Daily Views list, but I know my days are numbered, since @claude_richard is the only one of us actually getting movement from his Star Photo.
Now there are two of us @JustJake. My Star Photo views went up by a whopping big 1% in April. But that took 2 years to happen, while @claude_richard is getting movement every month. However, that’s never going to get my 823 anywhere near your 7948 views per day. Congratulations on your #1 spot.
I did note your continued stronghold on the average views per day so well done on that score @JustJake and indeed @claude_richard’s star photo continues to blast ahead. My concern about the star photo leaderboards continues to grow! Are others updating their star? Should we move to quarterly updates or is it time to retire this series as we did with 360 spheres?
I still see a difference here. The 360 sphere is a niche activity, with relatively few participating. Photos are mainstream, but there’s a bit of an oddity that the highest viewed photos aren’t displaying changes regularly. Perhaps we could monitor it a bit longer. Maybe a poll would help, but we need a significant number of responses.
That’d definitely save you some time and sanity, now wouldn’t it? I’d say stick it out for as long as @claude_richard can keep this streak going, or at least until @tony_b gets another update!
No @JustJake, that might take another 2 years. Remember that my next 1% is a fraction of a bigger number now, so it may take just a bit longer. But I’m thinking if I got it in April, someone else might get a jump in May or June. Just enough to keep hope alive. Then as we distance ourselves from February 2024, there may be a new batch of LGs with genuine high counts under the new system taking their place on the board in late 2026 or early 2027.
