Hello everyone! I’m Pearl from South Korea.
My first time aboard I lived in Toronto for a year and half.
Since living in Toronto, I used Google maps frequently. In Korea, I had absolutely no knowledge of the service, because Korean people barely use Google maps.
Instead we use a Korean website called ‘Naver’ which is pretty much the Korean version of Google.
I used to post pictures/video of places on my blog at a Korean website the known way I had to post pictures or reviews. After moving to Toronto, I had stopped posting on my Korean blog. Due to how time consuming it was to sharing my pictures and reviews.
I didn’t want to waste that much time posting and sharing my experiences. I just wanted to enjoy my life in Toronto.
One day, I realized that I can post my pictures and reviews quickly and easily using Google maps. So I started to share my experiences again. When I noticed that my posts had received over 1,600,000 views on google maps, I was shocked and I felt like I was helping people.
In addition, when I worked as a waitress in Toronto. Some of my customers from Mexico, China, United states, Singapore, Russia, UK and more would show me the photos I had posted on Google maps. They used my photos to asked me questions like “Do you know what is this is called on the menu? It looks really nice”. It was then that I realized, that everyone can share their experiences to people all around the world! I was so proud of myself for becoming a Local guide.
After this realization, that people all around the world use Google maps. I decided to travel alone. Google maps literally gave me bravery. I’ve never traveled alone, because I was too lazy to gather information about the area such as restaurant or must see places.
After figuring out how to use Google maps, I traveled to Hong Kong and Japan alone using Google maps to explore these cities. It was amazing! Following maps to great location even meeting new people on the way. Can’t wait for my next adventure!
I’m sure you at Google know, people in South Korea barely use Google maps. My goal is to change this. I want to make more and more people switch to using Google maps.
When I hung out my international friends in Korea, I used google maps to find great places to take them.
One such friend from England is a Vegan. When He visited me in Korea, I had to find a Vegan friendly place for him. After collecting information, I save locations as as ‘want to go’ and took him everywhere. This allowed us to save time and energy using google maps.
My goal is to help not only foreign people, but my fellow Koreans as well. For example when foreigners visit South Korea. They will be welcomed with more and more posts by me filled with pictures and reviews on Google maps. I plan on to list make lists such as ‘Historical place in Seoul’, ‘Best fried chicken place in Korea’, ‘Non spicy Korean food restaurant’, ‘Crazy night party places in Seoul and other cities’, ‘One hour hiking place in Korea’, ‘Best Korean BBQ place’, ‘Night market in Korea’ and much much more.
I wish I could help improve the wonderful service that is Google
