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
Readme - How to Read the Star Video leaderboards (August, 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, your current star video’s views must have been updated in each of the last 3 consecutive months.
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 username will take you to either that Local Guide’s Connect Profile or to their Brick on the Wall of Fame. If a number shown in small gray circle is displayed 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 Brick in the Wall.
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 1330 on Wednesday, September 4, 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.
Caption: @Yulia_Tikhanycheva Star Video of Praia da Bordeira (Bordeira’s beach) uploaded onto Google Maps on September 2023 and showing star views of 221,171 as at 2025-06-08
Without doing some hunting, and certainly without a star views history table, it’s difficult to know if @Yulia_Tikhanycheva’s star video details are up to date and this is why everyone is encouraged to follow the posting guidelines as best as you can. However, it’s an interesting example as in my view, clearly this video in portrait would not compare favorably with it in landscape. What do you think?
We had almost 60 new participants on the Leaderboards in August but sadly we see yet another month with no new participants in the star videos and very little activity in terms of views generated for many of our star videos! The only change I see on the overall leaders is with @Luis_Felipe who joins @katydarhel on the level 7 board and takes the lead with 59,814 star video views overtaking @katydarhel the previous Level 7 leader with 37,071 star views as at end of July. Yes there is some movement on the other boards, for example, it looks like @claude_richard had an impressive jump from 89,275 to 104,912 star views on the Level 9 board and so did both @cuicani and @YuliiaZa on the Level 8 board but if you’re like me, I’ve only had a modest increase from 74,912 star views at end of July to 78,991 at end of August. Has your star video gained any views throughout July August?
Well done @TerryPG for not only holding the lead on the Star Video Average Views/Day board but also increase your average from 12,524 to 12,962 views per day. I see @marcorp and @RooksieN jumping in here with 2,531 and 2,165 average star video views per day respectively. Sadly while my star views has increased marginally, but not enough and my average star views per day has decreased from 357 to 328 views per day. Hoping you had better results.
Ich bin mit den Aufrufen bei meinen Video Beiträgen sehr zufrieden. Viele haben die Grenze von 100.000 überschritten und befinden sich auf dem Weg nach oben.
Ich hoffe, dass mein Starvideo in den nächsten Tagen über 300.000 Aufrufe erreicht.
Aktuell ist der Fortschritt wie folgt:
I added my Star Video and Star Photo to the dedicated albums. However, I’m still not seeing them appear on the Brick on the Wall landing page. Could you please check if I’ve missed an important step?
Yes, @AdamGT . I added them for 2 months. Once on 8/4 and again on 9/4. Should I update it again today? Thank you so much for your help!! Appreciate it.
