Caption: The cover image shows a photo taken by Google Maps Local Guide @TerryPG and shown as the feature image on the Top 100 Leaderboard System
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Introduction:
When it comes to media contributions on Maps, each day we’re seeing more and more Local Guides contributing awesome videos, sharing their experiences so that others can get a much better appreciation and make better informed decisions about visiting the places they enjoy. This post is about such videos. More specifically, it’s about showcasing the “best” videos taken by Connect Local Guides from all over the world. In the absence of a better metric, we use the number of views that a video has gained as a measure of that video’s “quality” and we refer to the video having the most views as being our star video.
The post includes leaderboards for different Local Guide levels and in this way, whether you are a level 10 or a level 5 Local Guide, if you have contributed video on Maps, you can join in to showcase your star and it’s simple to do. To join the fun, sharing and learning about video contributed to Maps simply hit this link or leave a message on this post and someone will help you get started.
So what can you learn from the Star Videos Leaderboards?
By sharing our video contributions and achievements we can learn a lot about how to improve the quality of our videos so that we can achieve even better outcomes in terms of video views and the impact that they have on our communities. We have been doing this successfully with photos over many years and we can do the same with videos so join in and let’s see if together we can learn what type of videos work “best” on Maps.
Are you new to the Leaderboards?
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
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Readme - How to Read the Star Video 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.
1. The leaderboards in this post present details about the star videos of participating Local Guides from all over the world. If you have contributed videos on Maps then you will have a star video, it’s your video that has the most views and we call this, the star video.
2. As well as an overall leaderboard, you will see leaderboards for different Local Guide levels which provide you with direct comparisons of your star video’s performance with that of your peers. Finally, there’s a leaderboard ranking the top 100 star videos by average star views per day which gives an indication on how good your star video is. To be included in this leaderboard, you must have updated your star video’s views in the period since the date of the last average star views per day leaderboard as posted here on Connect last month.
3. The average star views per day is calculated by dividing the star views by the life of the star video expressed in days. The life of the star video is equal to the number of days between when you first uploaded your star video 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 that you enter the correct dates. When it comes to the date that you last updated the star views, point #2 above is very important.
4. 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 video.
5. If the Maps Category of a star video 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, 2025 Star Videos post, a “star video album” if you will, of star videos.
6. If the Maps Category of a star video is shown on a colored background then that star video has been selected as one of the best that meets the formatting requirements as specified in the star video album post. Select that star video’s category and see why it has been rated as one of the best and read more about that star video on the “star video album” post.
7. Preceding some of the leaderboards, you may see a number of screenshots of featured star videos. If so, these are a selection from those that best meet the requirements as detailed in the “star video album” post.
8. Clicking or selecting any of the featured star video images shown will take you to where you can view the Local Guide’s video.
9. 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.
10. Where shown, ( ) around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this Local Guide levelled up/down onto this leaderboard.
11. An asterisk (*) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Connect Moderator.
12. Double asterisks (**) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Googler.
13. 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.
14. Selecting a Connect Usernames will take you to that Local Guide’s Connect Profile.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. The data for the leaderboards in this post was read at 1015 on Friday, May 2, 2025 (UTC).
18. 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 15 above.
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February Featured Star Video
Caption: @LightRich’s Star Video of MAQUE cafe uploaded onto Google Maps on 2022-01-20 and showing star views of 365,104 as at 2025-04-30
When I first saw @LightRich’s star video, I wondered about how he got away with shooting it with so many people in the frame. I also wanted to comment about the historical views of this video but found that Buzz has forgotten to update his Star Video Views History table 
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Am I right in not seeing much of a change in this month’s star video boards although @katydarhel takes the lead on the level 7 board after @cuicani vacated the position as she jumped up onto the level 8 board.
Congratulations to Cuicani from Mexico City for climbing up to level 8 on the Local Guide levels. However, it will be tougher competition on some of the other metric level 8 boards!
I’ve mentioned this before that when I see new monthly boards showing little changes I worry that I may be making a mistake and posting boards based on the previous month’s data so, knowing my numbers, I usually start by checking mine. It’s when I get to the Star Video Average Views/Day board that I get a better picture of the sad reality - very few increases in average views/day values 
But what’s really sad from this is that I discover that some are not updating their start views data on the Leaderboard System. This is worrying. Should we just drop the Star Video Leaderboard like we said goodbye to the 360 Spheres?
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I will take a good place next month don’t worry @AdamGT just got started with the videos 
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Well I certainly hope so @Trail_blazer. We need to get a lot more excitement happening on the video boards!
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When star video LB started I chose a video which has been stuck at 24225 but now I have plenty of videos doing better than this so I will replace my star video this month.
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Congratulations 
@TerryPG on getting your photo featured in this LB for the cover page.
Quite refreshing photo.
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I understand your frustration from doing all the work without the members participating. But, I think the problem this month was that @TerryPG forgot to remind the Telegram group to update their numbers. 
Should be way better next month.
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Maybe @JustJake forgot to READ the Telegram group at the end of April.
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Ohhhhhhhhhh, man. Yes, you’re correct. Let’s just shut the board down, then 
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