I’m one of the many who are inspired by the Google Local Guides program, both in my life as well as in my career.I find myself in love with what I’m doing from being part of this program, every bit.
I work as a Sales Executive in the healthcare field and so a big part of my work includes travelling itself, to the sites consisting primarily of hospitals and laboratories. In Google Maps, the majority of my contribution includes updating and reviewing information about all the hospitals and laboratories in the areas I visit. And so, I was able to fix much of the inaccuracy in the locations of some of the different health related centers in my state. I am also contributing my ratings and reviews to make the public aware of the exact locations and the facilities provided by each hospital or laboratory, many of which are not even known to anyone.
Even though I have a busy schedule at work, I find time to share my experiences through Google Maps and I always make sure that as a Local Guide I update everything accurately. To the best of my knowledge, I believe that I am the only person in my area who updates personal experiences and fixes any inaccuracies in the locations already posted on the Maps.
I created a list of all the health centers (initially I created them to support myself) and later released it for my colleagues to aid them in their work and now anyone can access the list.But technically it’s not at all connected to my career. I started doing it out of curiosity and later felt it very interesting that it eventually became part of my life.
Google maps is the best resource that anyone who travels can make use of, let it be related to business or leisure or some other. Like any other person, I’m just an avid Google Maps user and I believe that there’s a lot to discover in being a part of it.Recently I have had the opportunity to support one of my friends in his business, by reviewing his shop and adding all the necessary information along with some photos. And it was a start for me in marketing through the Maps.
How I became aware of the Local Guides dates back to my college days. I am a person who loves travelling, I never miss a chance to explore what is out there, and my college days witnessed a fair number of my solo journeys, most of which included my dream destinations.
That was the time when I began to use the Local Guide and received support from the local guides of the respective localities. Later, through the helpful feedback in here, I became aware of several new destinations that I ultimately decided to visit and I got relevant information on locations that I had always dreamed of exploring.
And then, knowingly or unknowingly, I started to learn from Local Guide and Maps, about the immense assistance and the unbounded possibilities it provides to everyone out there who wants to travel. Once I created a wish list and traveled around 80+ locations in a very short span of time. Each time I got stuck, like the one in Gokarna(Karnataka) or the one in Meghamalai(Tamil Nadu), the Local Guide and Maps gave me the right directions and helped me out.
While I was in Gokarna, I was able to explore the beautiful, serene and tranquil places that were undiscovered by other travelers. Going closer to the sea, you can hear the waves coming towards you and going back, which will make you forget the things in mind that disturbs you.
Right now I’m helping all my fellow beings connected to the Healthcare industry, but it helps anyone out there indirectly because I find more viewers every other day on my posted pictures and the questions or concerns they raise below my posts.For the pictures I upload on Maps I still have a better number of viewers than the ones I share on Instagram, for which I am very proud.
So, being a local guide has been a very different and exciting experience for me over the past five years.I am at level 6 right now and nothing has stopped me from contributing to what I love to do.We are all travelers by life, either we’re doing it for a living or we’re living for it. But what I feel is that the best part of being a local guide is that we are the navigators of all the travelers around the world.
Nowadays, not only travelers are relying on the local guide, but anyone out there who finds a completely new location or even the people who want to look at a nearby destination also make use of the Maps and Local Guide reviews and photographs. I believe that every piece of information we exchange through this platform is countable and so I’m very proud to be a part of Google’s network of Local Guides.