Either it has always been in my personality or through the process of becoming a Google Local Guide that I developed this quality: I love it when others can learn from my experiences and thus avoid my mistakes.
I am German. We Germans love punctuality, accuracy and efficiency. And that is not a cliché. That’s why it has always annoyed me when I stood in front of shops that were closed (even though online there were different opening hours), when I had to stand in lines or couldn’t get from A to B quickly. As I said, I love efficiency. So a tool like Google Maps is made just for me.
You can never make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake, it’s a choice. Through the Google Local Guide community, I would even say “You don’t need to make a mistake once, if someone else has made it already and wrote about it.”
We had a wonderful summer day in Berlin. Berlin is simply unique in summer - you should definitely come by. In the heat we went with our bikes to one of the surrounding lakes and had the bike route shown on Google Maps. We came out at a beautiful lake, but the way there was not so beautiful. We were led on a bicycle path next to a federal road, but suddenly the path stopped because of construction work and we had to cycle the remaining 3 kilometres on the federal road. It was a wonderful road, but the cars raced past us at 100 km/h and we thought: we want to bike back a different way.
But, before that, I of course wanted to do something that I really love: give Google Maps my feedback when I find something where I wish others could avoid it and benefit from my experiences. So I immediately told Google Maps that there is a construction site there and had a wonderful day at the lake.
On the way back we had an alternative route shown. We were a bit surprised when this new path suddenly turned off the asphalt road and led us onto a trail. “Intended for mountain bikers” we said to ourselves and drove on. The route led us to a beautiful meadow. However, the trail became more and more sandy and finally led into a forest. “Still beautiful here,” we thought to ourselves, even though the path became more and more bumpy and we had to lift our bikes over fallen tree trunks at the end. When we could still hear howling from far away and we only thought, “please let that be a dog,” we said, “stop it, something is wrong here.” We took off until we found an asphalt road again. We had found civilization again and we could cycle home safely.
Then, what did I do when I was at home? right - I told Google Maps that this is not the right way for every cyclist. We ended up not only having a great day and an adventure that we still like to tell about in epic details, but also we were able to help many others.
Don’t get me wrong: Google Maps is simply a brilliant invention and so much more than a map. But, Google Maps needs local guides like us to tell about new openings in the neighbourhood, changes (like construction sites) or imperfect routes or changed opening hours. They need you and me to report our experiences, and with that we can make each other and Google Maps better.
So I am proud to be a Google Local Guide.