Why I love to add new places and how to find new ones

Google Maps contribution stories
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I started to contribute to Google Maps because I am always been interested on maps.
As I appreciate the accurate maps also I am glad to share my knowledge of places with others, so I started to contribute slowly, but continuously, only with selected contents.

Contribute after contribute, I have found the one that I prefer: adding places.

I live in Italy, in a small town, and, initially, it was difficult for me to find places that was not already mapped. More than once I have found a new shop, sometimes not opened yet, but when I tried to add it to Maps I discovered that it was already present! Big disappointment! :disappointed:

Going on with contributions finally I have found some kinds of places that often are not already mapped:

Panoramic spots
I found that usually the main panoramic spots are mapped but the secondary, or the less known, they aren’t.
One of the points that I added is the panoramic point of hoodoo of Longomoso.
A hoodoo is an earth pyramid. This place is only five minutes walk from the road but many people don’t know it exists, or they think it is far because on touristic leaflets is described as part of long path. Put it on the map give to all the ability to know that it isn’t so far. I tried also to add the walking path to it but this contribution was not accepted by Maps :cry: . Next time I will visit it, I will try to map the path with the new feature of Street View :wink: .

Hoodoo of Longomoso, BZ, Italy
Hoodoo of Longomoso, BZ, Italy2048Ă—1365 620 KB

Parking
In my region many cars parking are not yet mapped.
Maybe they are in little town or villages, but they may be very useful for tourists or in occasion of events with big influx like fairs or local festivals.
One of the parking that I added is Parcheggio centro, in Collalbo.
Collabo is a nice village in the Alto Adige region, in northern of Italy, during the year for many months it has a good touristic influx.

After some time that I add new places, it is very rewarding for me to see that other people have added photos and reviews. It means that my contribution was helpful to many other people, in particular who that doesn’t know the place and use the map to organize their trip.

Trailblazer master badge
Trailblazer master badge1080Ă—1318 117 KB

28 Likes
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Hi @FlavioDA ,

very nice post and that picture is amazing, so beautiful. Yes I can understand many places might be already there but for sure there will be still to be added … or corrected because having wrong information :wink: .

Good luck and speak soon!

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Thank’s @LuigiZ .

Ciao,

F.

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Hi @FlavioDA

Beautiful picture! Very interesting to know more about you. You are lucky to live in surrounding stunning beautiful nature!

It was nice to meet you online!

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Hi @JaneBurunina , nice to meet you too.

Yes, the mountains around where I live are wonderful.

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Hi @FlavioDA

I hope you are fine and safe.

Thanks a lot for sharing this great post. Like you, I love adding places and the impact is huge.

Good luck for your application and hopefully we will meet there!

See you around

Julien

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Hi @Julien44 , happy to hear from you. I am well, till now, thank’s, I hope the same for you. I also hope to see you soon in person.

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You are absolutely right, @FlavioDA

Parking spaces are frequently not mapped, so I am with you in adding parking lots.

Great photo

Good luck for your application

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It’s a pleasure to know that you agree @ErmesT , said by you for me it is a compliment.
Thank you also for the photo.
I am working, but next days I am thinking about a new post with some other photos that I like.

We will see in CL20? I hope to be there …

Ciao,
Flavio

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Hi @FlavioDA ,

I also live in a small region in the south of France and it is also difficult for me to find new places.

Nice photo and congratulations for your badge!

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Thank you @DavidTerronPla

Where do you live in France?

I know a bit France and I visit it different times. I also speak France, a little.

Ciao

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That’s very good! near Toulouse

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Hey hi,really nice to read your posts,tell me how is everything in Italy now days?are you safe?keep in touch after covid 19 for some travel adventure.share your email

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Hi @FlavioDA ! I perfectly agree with you and in fact I too often add those places. But… I take advantage of your post for a comparison on some problems.

  1. Duplicated places: you can see that both “Piramidi di terra di Longomoso” and “Parcheggio Centro” have been duplicated (“Piramidi di terra di Longomoso, Renon” and “Parcheggio zona disco”). How do you usually solve this problem?

  2. Wrong or confusing translation of categories in Google Maps, for example in parking lot. In English (USA) you can find: parking garage, parking lot, free parking lot, public parking space. Which is the difference between parking lot and public parking space?
    Then I try in Italian: parking garage → autorimessa, parking lot → area di parcheggio, free parking lot → parcheggio gratuito, public parking space → parcheggio pubblico. In Italian too I do not understand the difference between “area di parcheggio” and “parcheggio pubblico”.
    Can you help me understanding?

Thank you!

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Hi @AndreaDFC ,
good questions, but I have no the exact answer. I try to explain you what I learned about it.

  1. Duplicated places: It is very important that category and address is the same to have a good chance that your request of cancellation of a duplicate place is accepted. In the case you cite, about my post, I have tried more times to remove the duplicate but I haven’t succeeded yet. In this case there is one more problem, Bolzano is bilingual so this is a further factor that complicate the cancellation.

I am happy that you are interested in deleting duplicate place, I suggest you to read the post of @JanVanHaver , he launched the project Local Guides Clean The Map (#LGCTM). You will find many useful information.

  1. Wrong or confusing translation of categories: I have your same doubt, sometimes. I try to use the most exact category that I find, otherwise I use the general one.

Ciao

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@FlavioDA @AndreaDFC good that you mention some specific examples of confusing categories. As it happens I am hosting a virtual meetup next weekend about exactly that topic. You are more then welcome to join so we can discuss these examples.

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Hi Flavio,

I pleasently read your posts on the Dolomites. Last time I passed through the Dolomites it rained heavily every day since we entered Italy from Switzerland.

I am planning to visit Italy, late October, so guess the weather will be unpredictable, but wanted to ask your guidance on places that could be at a reasonable distance from a car park where you could see the Dolomites, like the Lago di Carezza. Or whatever you recommend.

My passion is photography of water, but haven’t posted many images on this forum although the ones I did have many views.

Kindly await your news,

Gonzalo