As Local Guides, it’s often amazing which of all of our many photos we contribute to Google Maps has the most views. We’ve come to call this our star photo and this post is all about such stars. It includes a set of leaderboards that, as well as showcasing the star photos of hundreds of Local Guides from all over the world, presents a very detailed analysis of their performance. We all have a star photo, so you can join in to showcase yours and it’s simple to do. Just hit this link and register or if you want some help then add a comment in this post 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.
The Cover Image:
The cover image features an example star photo and this one was taken and added to Maps by @Rednewt74 (Alfred), a Level 9 Local Guide from Vermont, in the northeastern United States. In his detailed description, which you can read in his post here, Alfred mentions that this was taken on one of the original Pixel phones and was one of his earliest photos that he added to Maps.
Readme - How to Read the Star Photos leaderboards (May 2024)
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, you must have updated your star photo’s views in the period since the date of the last average star views per day leaderboard as posted here on Connect last month.
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, 2024 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, 2024 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, 2024 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 that Local Guide’s Connect Profile.
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.
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 6:30 PM on May 2, 2024 (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 16 above.
At long last hey, here is the first of the star media posts for May. Has your star photo shown any significant movement? I can say that mine certainly hasn’t.
Local Guides suspended from or who have left the Local Guides program as well as those who have hidden their Maps profile are excluded from the Leaderboards.
Thanks @JustJake for so quickly checking. That crazy coding error is back. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to find it but all in vain. I’ll continue searching for it. The reason why you are missing shouldn’t be as difficult to find out. I’ll do some checking and revert soonest.
Thank you, Adam, for featuring my star photo. It became a red star long before the current view glitch; and the glitch means it will continue to be my star for a long time to come.
Regarding why you’re missing from the Average Views/Day leaderboard, while you show a different date in the caption of your screenshot here, would you check and confirm that the date shown in the image below is the T100 date that you have for your screenshot.
Interesting to observe here in Top 100 Star Photos Leaderboard (May 2024)@AdamGT that all regular contributors have the same number of Star Photo views for at least last two consecutive months and in some cases for more than two months.
I have highlighted this earlier in my update here.
