The picture higlighted in yellow has been the featured picture for this POI immediately from the start. And yet, from all my pictures for this POI, it has the lowest view count. Remarkable.
Here is another example. These are some pictures I took a week ago from a Carrefour Express Supermarket in Berchem.
The picture highighted in red has been the featured picture for this POI, also immediately after I uploaded them. And yet, it only has the 3rd highest view count of all my pictures for this POI.
I am wondering what could be the reason for this. I can think of a few possibilities:
The view counter is off. I consider that unlikely.
Google Maps shows these pictures also on other POI’s than the particular POI to which they have been uploaded. I know this does happen, I have seen it more than once.
Google shows these pictures also on other platforms, other than Google Maps. I don’t have the faintest idea whether this happens or not.
I didn’t get the email from when they changed the numerical system, and as a result I have no idea any more which numbers are higher and which are lower.
I am curious as to any insights you guys may have on this.
@Ion_Taranu understanding the logic (or the lack thereof) in the views count is not something you should strive for, as it seems to be classified information of some sort.
However, your point 3 is definitely correct: pics on Maps are also shown as search results when using Google Search, not Maps. And 2 is partially correct: your pics can also show up on city level (there is a section Recent uploads when you look at the Maps page for e.g. Antwerpen or Hoboken).
Point 4 could also be correct of course, but as I also did not get an email on that, I can’t confirm or deny it. In 2020 anything seems possible, though
Hi @Ion_Taranu something that is featured for you isn’t necessarily featured for anyone else. Maps crafts a view unique to each person based on algorithms.
@PaulPavlinovich This is very helpful information. I had no idea that the featured photo for a POI can be different, depending on the person looking at the POI on Google Maps.
As to the near duplicates, by far most of my uploads are single pictures for any POI, sometimes 2 from a different angle. But, in exceptional cases, I tend to make more pictures of a POI when I’m unsure as to how to best grab an image of it. This was the case for the Spar due to the very poor lighting conditions (the strong glare coming from inside the store). And for the Carrefour Express, since I couldn’t find an angle to capture it entirely in one picture. After uploading them, and under the assumption that the algorithm will decide which of the pictures are best suited, I will then wait a while to see how the view count evolves and then delete the ones that get significantly lower views than others. This usually eliminates near duplicates all together. I haven’t done this exercise as yet for the pictures above, since they were uploaded so recently.
Another source of the increase in the view count of photos is a visit to the profile.
Someone impressed by one of the excellent reviews may jump to the profile page and then look for the latest as well as the highest viewed pics.
However, by locking the profile, that stream of the views becomes out of bounds. Further, by keeping the profile locked, you will never come to know which photos are now private.
BTW: Photos become private for multiple reasons. The AI scans the contributions periodically and then hides non-conforming content from public view. The frozen view counter noticed by you is an indirect indication of that. However, to identify exactly you need looking at your profile through a guest mode.
Using such a method is new to me. Sure most of us will try to remove if we find any of our photos has been filtered but this should not be the base for our contributions to leave the decision to the system.
I know this thinking comes from your smartness to help people for seeing the best photo but we should not rely on artificial intelligence for all of our decisions. In fact, the system is learning from our contributions both to improve the database, learn from it, and to see if our photo contributions are mostly good enough to be featured or not. So as @PaulPavlinovich advised you should try to take and upload the photos you think is good enough, as you can.
There is several photo tips that are accessible by scrolling down under the profile of @Christina-NYC (former Google Moderator) and helps for taking better photos for the map to be also favorites of the artificial intelligence to make them featured.
By your high-quality photos help people to see the best shots of a place and help the system to learn better
Yes