Hi, A set of changes was approved but new entries are being rejected. They will add value to the map and I am a local expert providing local information. Only been trying the last couple of days but I need a resolution before spending any more time adding content that may just be rejected. Thanks in advance, Sam p.s. best solution may be moderator rights for my area?
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Hi @sammawby
All edits are approved by computers, so honestly, there is no one in charge of approving edits in your area. The recommended way to get help is to share the details of what you are trying to add, then someone with more experience might be able to suggest how you can improve your edits to increase the likelihood of them getting approved.
You may find the following post from my Easing frustrations series interesting and helpful:
I can see from your contributions that you are a nature person and not a city person. My experience has more focus on city areas with a lot of businesses. I noticed that you used a review to state that āThis is not a Tourist attractionā. Instead, you could have tried to change the category to something better.
Cheers
Morten
Thanks, Iāll review the link. Iāve noticed a few other things too such as the best category doesnāt always show up, any idea how to for example select āMountain peakā.
Hallo @sammawby , what do you mean with āA set of changes was approved but new entries are being rejectedā? I mean, I see zero edits on your profile, did you used another account?
Can you please give some example about the edits you are trying to submit? This will give us the opportunity to better understand your issue. For more details about how to write a post to receive help please can read Need Help? - Help Us to Help You
Regarding your last questions, there are natural features in Maps, like rivers, lakes, mountain peaks, where you can add photos and reviews, even if these are part of the Maps Layer. But you cannot edit them, nor there are categories available like mountain peak
It would be very helpful if you would use the tagging tool when replying to someone here on Connect. Type @ followed by the username. Type slowly. Then we get an e-mail notification and you are more likely to get a prompt reply. Just hitting Reply does not ensure we get notified by email.
Please see Stuff we can not edit on Google Maps to better understand what Ermes mentioned about the base layer/natural features.
Cheers
Morten
Hi @ErmesT , thanks for the reply. Iāve made some headway but being from a long IT background itās all a little frustrating :)! Changes to Blea Tarn and Colwith Force were updated on the map so some automated success. Some of the New entries were invalid on my part. I assumed the map would be nice and show all POIs as you zoom in but this isnāt the case therefore many POIs are invisible unless you search very precisely (this is a very unfortunate feature of Google Maps as of today). So
| Blea Tarn |
|---|
| Burnmoor Tarn |
| Stony Tarn |
| High Dam |
| Holme Crag |
| Devoke Water |
| Wast Water |
| Beacon Tarn |
were all correctly rejected I think. Going into more specifics for the remaining
| Silecroft Beach |
|---|
has not yet been added and would be useful to distinguish between the Beach and the Car Park (Car Park - Silecroft Beach) as they could receive different Reviews/Ratings. Iād also prefer the Beaches (see also Millom Beach, Haverigg Beach, etc.) to show as Beaches (Icon) which elsewhere means a category of Beach not Public Beach or Tourist Attraction etc. Waterfalls are my specialist topic for the Lake District and Iāve so far tried to add
| Rowantree Force |
|---|
| Miners Bridge Waterfall |
| Gibsonās Spout |
| Seathwaite Cascades |
| Boot Cascades |
| Buttermere Infinity Pool |
| Thirlmere Infinity Pool |
for starters. Some of these are on OS Maps as Named Waterfalls and/or have Wiki or other web pages discussing them, I could try to add some again with a URL. I donāt see Waterfalls as a Category at all but it would be nice for it to be added in future and an Icon provided. At the moment Iād be fine with Tourist attraction. I tried to add a couple of missing hills
| White Hall Knott |
|---|
| Raven Crag |
which are close to Black Combe. Again there is likely a little online reference to both and they are climbed. I do see though that although the Wainwrights are all there many other mountains are missing and those added by users are miss categorised as Tourist attraction, Hiking area etc. presumably because the category Mountain peak wasnāt available. So this is all a little messy. Remaining new entries
| S for Sugar Aircraft Crash Memorial |
|---|
| The Pepper Pot |
| Devoke Water Boat House |
| Rydal Hall Gardens |
| Ulpha Bridge |
| Black Combe Screes |
The first is a well visited site on the fells and will appear online. The second is a nice feature passed by many people of the hill side (from their car below mostly but some climbing up) and also online. The boat house is a talked about feature of Devoke Water, interesting and will be online too. Ulpha Bridge is known for swimming/jumping, scenic and a bridge (will be online). There are a few other things marked in the area (all probably less useful). Black Combe Screes as an interesting feature of the fell and worth adding (probably info online too). Rydal Hall Gardens may be harder as they are part of a accommodation place which is there already, however they allow day visitors and have a paid car park so many people use the gardens and donāt use the accommodation so a distinction is very useful. This is a very popular site. Sorry for the long reply but I thought it was worth giving extra details at least the first time. Iā m currently experiencing new problems and would be great to get solutions but I wonāt burden you with those just yet :)! Many thanks, Sam p.s. I also canāt seem to remove a Pending Edit for example I have a couple that arenāt valid (one a tarn Iāve now seen with better search) and the other an attempt to edit a wrong location (but I think it just did something unexpected), this is a future thing to discuss.
Thanks @MortenCopenhagen , something else you may be able to answer. Iāve found a few duplicate entries (some that even sit directly next to each other on the map). Mostly Mountain peak at the moment. I did message the details to get them corrected but I also saw there is an option for Delete/Remove. If I make this choice (selecting one or other Entry) will it join the two Entries keeping the Reviews/Ratings for both. Obviously as an automated process this is not likely to happen so would it be a user (Google employee) update? Example: Black Combe, Black Combe Summit https://www.google.com/maps/search/mountain+peak/@54.2579594,-3.3376229,15z/data=!4m2!2m1!6e1.
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You are very correct, that zooming in will not show all the pins. Only a text search can be used to check if a place is already on Google Maps.
Also, keep in mind that some mountain tops are named differently depending on where they are viewed from.
I think a great next step for you will be to understand the difference between a pin we can edit and geographic features that are not available to be edited by Local Guides. Only Google staff can edit geographic features. And to make life difficult many geographic features have pins that look exactly like the pins we can edit.
You may find the following posts from my Easing frustrations series interesting and helpful:
- How to get Edits and New Places Approved
- Stuff we can not edit on Google Maps at least read this one!
If you want me to take a look at two places that need to be merged, then please share the MAPS links for both.
A MAPS link looks like this: https://goo.gl/maps/DV5hBZ9qxH6YSk8n6. You find it via the Share icon on the place sheets.
Cheers
Morten
Hi @MortenCopenhagen , can you please confirm the affect of using the Remove/Duplicate option.
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Hi @MortenCopenhagen try this one:
https://goo.gl/maps/3fXALxR6Yq5dve299 (13 reviews)
https://goo.gl/maps/CNupD1kef5DJeWWU7 (30 reviews)
Also some questions/answers attached to them.
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I have explained the merge procedure in my notes on Merge Workflow.
Merging is really a demanding operation. It takes time and skills to do it successfully.
Removing a pin can be done in more ways. I recommend you only do this when completely sure you are not doing harm to the places and businesses. The āPermanently closedā option is the best to use because it can be reversed in case you make a mistake.
Cheers
Morten
Thanks for the two Maps links.
The 13-reviews one is a geographical feature that can not be edited by us. You can not find the āSuggest an editā link/button.
The 30-reviews one is also a geographic feature.
So the first conclusion is that you can not merge the two yourself. It is not even worth trying. The merge procedure does not work on geographical features. And certainly not if you try to merge a normal pin and a geographical feature pin.
Such data issues are better dealt with in the Maps support forum.
Hit the Community tab at the top and make a post. You will need to share the two Maps links and provide some good arguments for why they need to be merged.
The product experts on the Maps support forum are also volunteers, so the more precisely you can describe the issue the more likely it is that one of them will escalate the issue to the Googlers.
Best of luck
Morten
PS: You need to build some experience on how to present issues on the support forum to reach an ok success rate. Iām trying to say that you can be sure the issue will be escalated and fixed. Fixing issues with editable pins is much easier.
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Hi @MortenCopenhagen thanks for the reply. At the moment Iām trying to be helpful and add value to the map in my area (outdoor info as thatās what Iām offering as a business). If that process becoming too difficult then Iāll just give up on the idea (until Google addresses the issues or comes back to me directly). It is what it is I guess. At the moment Iām not getting any value from any of the changes and/or for my time spent. Some other things I can do will add a little value for me so itāll be a case of priorities.
Seems strange that some of the errors are there, for example the one I gave you, the only difference is Summit added to the end of the name. They are in the same place on the map and both Mountain peak. If thatās not a big red flag Iām not sure what is (I know there will be a few exceptions to the rule)? Even just in my small area I have another handful of similar examples.
Iāll see if any of the direct message changes get implemented before deciding what to do next. Iāll also wait to see what @ErmesT comes back with :)!
Thanks to both of you for your time
Kind regards
Sam
Using the Local Guides program to offer service for profit is not allowed according to the terms you accepted when signing up for the Local Guides program. It is for volunteers only.
There are people trying to make a business out of helping local businesses but this is not something I would recommend.
It takes a lot of learning to understand what is easy and what is hard to do on Google Maps.
Best of luck
Morten
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