What does the Local Guides program mean to me: Find what you need and choose the best for yourself.

Google Maps contribution stories
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Hi everybody, hi Google.
My name is Vladislav, I am from Latvia, now i am in California. I discovered the Local Guides program four years ago. At that time i had a new job, which involves constant business trips to many places around the world. Arriving in a new country and in a completely unfamiliar place, you constantly need to know where to get the best hotel, the best store, the best restaurant, the best car rental, the nearest gas station.
Who helps me with this? Of course google maps and local guides.
When the weekend comes, new tasks appear.
I would like to visit local attractions and places for entertainment and relaxation. And again Google maps and local guides help.
Gradually, I began to take pictures of places I visited, and publish them on Google maps and write reviews.
So I myself, using the advice of local guides and getting help from them, I myself became a local guide and now I help hundreds of people make the right choice.
Many of my colleagues are surprised how I quickly and correctly find the place or service I need.
A lot of people are not familiar with the program “local guides”, and do not know how to use its advantages.

Another reason I use the program of local guides is the history of visiting places. Since I travel a lot, the program helps me to keep those places I visited and the photos to them in a good chronological order, it is very interesting and convenient to view them in my free time.

Traveling around the world, I take a lot of pictures of the places I visited, and already have more than one million views, I know how important it is to see different pictures of the places that you are going to visit and I am happy to help these other people. It’s very unexpected to see how one of your very simple pictures becomes the best by views.

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Most viewed pictures by views 153,176 views

I’m also very proud that I added a new place to Google maps. The farmers market in my hometown of Riga. It is very popular among local people, now many visitors also know about it.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yoQuZkwJux4Barz37

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I believe that events like “Connect live 2020” can make the program “local guides” more popular and bring it to a new level of use.

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Hello @Vladislav_RIGA it looks like your post was accidentally caught in our spamfilter (which is pretty strict here; it can be triggered even by simply making edits to a recently published post). I have now released it from the spam folder.

If you’re new to Connect, this post will probably be a good starting point.

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Hi @Vladislav_RIGA ,

It seems that you’ve shared a post for your Connect Live 2020 application. Keep in mind, one of the requirements is to share your post on Local Stories, so I’ve moved your post there, thanks.

Feel free to have a look at the application guidelines and find some handy tips for creating an application post.

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Thanks AlexaAC