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 (June, 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 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 0300 on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 (UTC).
19. 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: @TerryPG’s Star Video of Scarborough Town Centre uploaded onto Google Maps on 2025-04-05 and showing star views of 1,010,565 as at 2025-06-28
“No way, a jump of 461K star views in just a month!..Is this another one of those accidental extra digits added to the views when doing your monthly star update?” Well that’s what I thought when I first saw @TerryPG’s star views value for June. In his write up which you can read here, Terry says “This is my 4th Star Video in the last year and this one has made me very excited. It’s a video of Scarborough Town Centre.” I’m not going to say any more about this here and will leave it to the master, to enlighten us all in the discussion! Terry, I can’t wait
Sadly another month goes by with no new participants in the star videos but it’s great to see that as well as @TerryPG’s massive 461K+ increase in star views, a number of us have at least had some increase in views. Congratulations to both @Rednewt74 and @MarkAuchincloss who continue to lead on the average views per day front but I’m wondering if in the next couple of months whether Terry will take over that crown
Thanks @AdamGT Can’t blame you for thinking I screwed up with my numbers(again) This highlight(creation) video was taken of Scarborough Town Centre, in Toronto. Even thou Toronto is a world class major city I am not fond of the traffic there so I don’t visit as much as I should. This mall maybe the 4th largest in Toronto and gets a lot of visitors.
I made the video using Google Photos only and it’s surprisingly easy to do. I have posted a How to guide and already shared here on Connect.
Thanks @WilfriedB appreciated,
interesting fact, all the discussions you, @tony_b ,myself and others have had re the 1% rule still applies for this video. A couple of days. I watched intently as the views increased daily, it would increase by 1% and then a few hours later increase another 1% etc. etc.
This highlight(creation) video was taken of Scarborough Town Centre, in Toronto. Even thou Toronto is a world class major city I am not fond of the traffic there so I don’t visit as much as I should. This mall maybe the 4th largest in Toronto and gets a lot of visitors.