Hi everyone,
I am a local guide level 7, from New Delhi, India.
I like mentioning quite a few things in my reviews (and yes most of my reviews are Loooooong) ?
Here are the various aspects of what I like sharing with my google maps app.
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Accessibility options - I was always aware of issues that handicapped people or senior citizens face due to decreased mobility. However my personal experience added even more rawness to it. A few years back I ruptured one of my ligaments in the knee and had to undergo surgery. I was bed ridden for a while and then slowly graduated from wheelchair, to walker, to walking normally, to climbing stairs. Ever since then I have been acutely aware of the incorrect way our cities are designed and are NOT handicapped friendly at ALL! Hence I end up mentioning presence of elevator/stairs/accessibility etc everywhere.
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Parking troubles - Anyone from any major Indian city would know what sort of issues one faces when one has to drive somewhere and then spend half an hr searching for parking space! Delhi - the capital isn’t new to it either. The burgeoning capital is adding more and more cars to the roads everyday and we don’t HAVE roads or parking spaces accordingly. So I mention parking spaces nearby and even the charges especially if it’s FREE (that’s very important to us Indians, because most people park haphazardly on roads, only to avoid paying parking charges ? )
- Helping “hole in the wall” outlets - I love to add new places (the approval rate has much improved now compared to 2 years back, thank you!) I like adding these new places which may drive traffic to them - pun unintended ;). I mean both online and offline traffic. It might help them with increased business, and it helps users of google maps, see what’s available right next door and may save them a tough time trying to find the same thing.
- Toilets - #looreview is extremely important! I mention if the places have NO TOILET . I know it’s sacrilege! But sometimes toilets really aren’t possible in every cafe/restaurant. I also mention the cleanliness levels I find and in fact I take Toilet pics and share them too. Yes, it’s a thing ?
- Photography - I must mention here that I am a software industry person turned professional photographer and I love taking images. I have zillions of images of all places I visit. However, I admit, I upload lesser number of images than I actually have with me, because my images have been stolen many times , plagiarised and misused by even main stream media! And they get to do this because of the ease of google search. So I really hope, google maps would help us by disabling downloads or may be watermarking our images or some such thing, to put a stop to this rampant practice in India.
As a photographer who’s perpetually faced with the standard “which camera do you use”, I can tell you the best camera is the one ON you.
- I enjoy clicking landscapes, here’s one taken with an ancient ipad 3!
and here’s one with a different angle!
- I LOVE taking pictures of Man-Animal interaction or of any animals that would pose for me ?
- I am all for supporting causes & go out to document activism around me. Here is a mobile pic again.
- I do take food pics like everyone else, and I like to get up close and personal with food.
- I love getting up close with nature too. Mobile shots again!
- I really enjoy taking Aerial images too! The second one won me a 3rd prize in an all India contest! All mobile shots again.
- Last but not the last, I love street photography. All mobile shots again!
Ok, I’ll stop the photography blitz for now ? .
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Reporting spam images/reviews on google maps - This is one of my pet peeves. Most images for a location are actually selfies! Pray tell, how does it help any user of google maps if they see a random face and not the outlet? All these people are basically taking shortcuts to getting more points towards their local guide levels. Sometimes the images aren’t even of that place but are generic and needless to say, plagiarised images of something else found on google search! For eg a lot of places reviewed by Indian local guides would have images of heritage from India - a random Taj mahal pic for a lebanese restaurant? Nope, report spam immediately! I know many people would be noticing it, but don’t want to spend time over it. However this gets my goat enough for me to spend time over this. I also dislike the “nice place” sort of 2 word reviews . They shdn’t be allowed at all.
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Reporting places that have shut down/shifted/marked incorrectly - Another one of my pet peeves - because you google maps, yes you only that I mostly love, but sometimes get annoyed with, has led me to incorrect locations many times where the location doesn’t exist any more or is a few kilometers away instead! I have missed meetings and turned up late and red faced to family events due to this. So yes, the moment I Face this, I correct the status of the place so that no one else has to go through what I did!
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Using lists - I admit I haven’t made as many as I would like, but I Am the sorts who has organised lots and lots of photo walks, heritage walks, food meetups, nature walks and what not (not for local guides but others) in the past. And I actually need a feature like this to mark exact locations for the attendees or anyone else who might want to check out the same places later. Yes, I need to start organising meetups for local guides too ?
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Connect meetups - Now this is one thing I haven’t done yet but I sure will, soon enough especially because of the new features that ease up the entire meeting up process. I would like to add here that I started blogging in 2003, when India had a handful of bloggers and founded a group of Delhi bloggers in Jan 2004 and organised several blogger meets, photo walks, heritage walks, blogger camps, India’s first social media camp in 2008, India’s first Wordpress camp in 2009 (attended by founder Matt mullenweg) and many other meets. So yes , I do intend to get the same verve and passion for local guide meetups in my local area as well ?
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Finding app bugs - Once again I refer you to my mention of being from the software industry. I am a computer engineer who left her job to pursue professional photography, but the geek in me lives on. I like reporting bugs (even though there’s no bounty, sigh) for all major apps I use. ? Google maps is no exception. And continuous usage makes me think up several new requirements also. I report bugs when I find them and plan to actively suggest new features and share feedback based on my experience.
Hoping to continue contributing and helping as many users of Google maps, as possible!
As a parting shot, here’s an artwork image I created for #earthday. It is basically a never ending “wormhole” I created using one of my landscape images. It gives a very “Alice in wonderland” feel doesn’t it? ?
Local guides, please feel free to share your bouquets or brickbats ?
If you would like to stay in touch with me over social media, here are my links:
Twitter : http://twitter.com/twilightfairy
Instagram : http://instagram.com/twilightfairy