When it comes to media contributions on Maps, video is the new frontier and 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 and 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 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.
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 (December 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 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.
* 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.
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.
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.
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, 2024 Star Videos post, a “star video album” if you will, of star videos.
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.
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.
Clicking or selecting any of the featured star video images shown will take you to where you can view the Local Guide’s video.
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 Usernames 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 1130 on Saturday, January 4, 2025 (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 15 above.
Firstly, welcome to the star video leaderboards @Arups_1.
My first impression from my quick viewing of the December star video leaderboards is that many have not gained any views or is this possibly due to many not updating the December star views values?
Also, am I right that there are same regularly video contributors missing from these leaderboards?
This board does seem sparse, @AdamGT. With the focus and highlight on video (and the counts being FUBAR on photos) I would expect the Video leaderboard to be far more active.
I’m stoked you’ve joined us, @ArupS_1! Welcome aboard.
@AdamGT Don’t see my name on list. I updated all my info on Dec/24/24 . updated my table as well, added to the new Star video album. I was excited to see the growth in the video. Would it have any thing to do with it being my 3rd str video?
Yes Adam, I also noticed the lists are short this month. My personal experience though is that I’m consistently getting new views on my videos, whereas many of my photos are stuck from one month to the next.
Regarding “Stars”, my Star Photo hasn’t shown an increase for many months, but I always have an updated figure for my Star Video. Personally, I almost didn’t update due to the pop-up which insisted on changing the link to the album to the New Connect format. Maybe others were unsuccessful in navigating this.
Annaelisa, it is Winter in the far North, Summer in the far South, and seasons don’t even exist in the middle where I live. Therefore the weather shouldn’t affect the overall total activity on the Leaderboards. There’s always nice weather somewhere when it isn’t so nice somewhere else.
Hier hat das Wetter einen großen Einfluss, seit dem Herbst haben wir fast keine Sonne mehr gesehen, nur trübe, dunkel, es gab Tage da wurde es nicht richtig hell und soviel Regen das Felder und Wege unter Wasser stehen. @tony_b
Richtig warm wird es hier meistens so ab Juni bis September und dann strömen auch viele Urlauber zu uns.
Yes, I’d expect that. But then there are thousands of people from your colder countries who come to countries like mine at this time of the year. I’m seeing an unusually high number of tourists around here in recent weeks. They may already be LGs, or they may take casual photos and videos and Google will suggest that they upload them. They may also submit Reviews of hotels, restaurants, or other places of entertainment. So there’s always going to be activity on Google Maps at any time of year.
@tony_b natürlich so verlagern sich die Touristen, aber wenn es um die Aufrufe für Bilder und Videos dreht, kommt es auf die an, die zu Besuch kommen und Orte suchen, was sich auf unsere Starfotos/Videos auswirkt
. With the focus and highlight on video (and the counts being FUBAR on photos) I would expect the Video