What I love sharing most on Google Maps are photos and videos from my expeditions.
aaaaand… When I say expeditions I truly mean expeditions that I undertake in remote places. I usually go with a friend (or a full team) and it involves us rock climbing, skiing and mountaineering. I am a very organized person and on top of building out precise & detailed itineraries (some of which you can find in my blog posts on Local Guides Connect such as this one) I enjoy taking photos and videos.
To walk you through how such an expedition works from a logistics perspective:
- I use Google Maps, A LOT, to research where I am going. The problem with remote places is that often times they do not have a lot of info about them on Google Maps besides a Google Earth / satellite view. From this type of view it is hard to determine the conditions and topography of such places. So by me adding videos and photos after I complete my trips I make these places more accessible and safer for other expedition parties.
- I prepare a list of things to pack in a Google Doc that I share with the expedition team on Google Drive. We can then work as a team to check off and make sure we have all the supplies and equipment needed.
- On Google Maps I STAR and / or create custom Lists of things to see and visit while on the expedition. At the end of each trip when I am home I go back into my stared list and add a photo + video to each place I visited on the trip. Its so much fun! I also rate the places OR add places that Google Maps is not aware of yet.
In Summary:
Google maps truly saved my as* several times on an expedition and so I collect more and more data for Google Maps to make sure other people are safe when on an expedition + so that they have more accurate data to go off of when making risk factor decisions.
Other features I have recently started using more are the 180/360 degree photos AND I am considering of developing my first Virtual Tour using Google’s Tour Creator as I would like to get my expedition featured on Google’s VR Expedition App.
Cheers! Watch below a video from our expedition to Alaska!