You prompt “What does the Local Guides program mean to you?”
Hi! I am Yuriy from Ukraine.
Google Maps has become my favourite online tool for browsing the world, exploring places around me. I remember myself laying down paper maps on the floor and making plans where I would love to travel. All I could see on a regular map were location names, toponymic signs, roads and paths, rivers and seas… What was behind those names or places I could only trust my gut, probe my intuition and listen to my heart.
Local Guides has provided so much more of insides of places. It has gathered Wikitravel, Google Earth, Picasa, TripAdvisor, Booking.com in one place. I can do so much more on Google Maps alone, pumped with Local Guides. You have inspired me to share my travel experiences with the world out there.
Without Local Guides the most of my photos, reviews and experiences would have remained unshared, untold, forgotten in vain.
With Local Guides - my life is different. In many ways. Local Guides has become the platform for telling my story to others, letting my experience be of help for them in their travels, be those real or virtual.