It all started 3 years ago. Initially I was not aware of the Local Guides Program, even the practical use of Google Maps. I was staying in a small village in Kerala, India. I had to travel approximately 40+km to and from my office daily. The road route was not as smooth as seen in many developed places. The roads were narrow and not in good condition also. As a result, there will be traffic block which will last for at least 4 hours mostly on rainy days. There was no way to know about live traffic prior to reaching there. One of my friends told about using Google Maps to check live traffic on a route and thus I started using Google Maps for checking route conditions. Then one day I accidentally clicked ‘contribute’ label in the Google Maps android app. Then only I came to know that we can also contribute to Google Maps.
From then, I used to be an active local guide by adding places, reviews, photos, edits etc. At first, I was not unaware about the basic standard required for photos, reviews etc. I searched on Google and watched some videos in YouTube and came to know about Google Local Guide Program in detail. Then I understand all basic things, that must be checked , such as uploading clear quality photos so that those will be useful for viewers.
Being in a rural area, I rarely get chance to travel. But whenever I travel, I add details about that place on Google Maps. Since Google local guide community popularity was very less in our area, I couldn’t arrange or take part in any meetups or explore groups. Apart from that, I used to help people to add their business to Google Maps. I used to share about Google Maps usage and Local Guide Program to my friends. Now most of them all active local guides and our community is growing. It reflects in Google Maps also and as a result, I can see my village with so much details in Google Maps. It will definitely help people, who are new to our village.
Google Maps and Local Guide Program are popular in most places. But there are some places, where people are not aware anything about this. Being a local guide, I am trying to reach out people as much as I can and thereby helping a service and a community to grow. I believe a simple act of sharing knowledge can lead to growth of a place, community and service to serve us better.
Editor’s Note: This post was written to help demonstrate the kind of posts that are requested as part of the Connect Live 2020 application, but the above authentically represents my Local Guides experience.