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Level 8

Re: Categories

@AlexanderChalkidis

 

I very much agree with you. 

 

Missing Google AI

Currently, when you start typing the category name, the system will give suggestions based on the what you typed so far. Unfortunately, this auto-suggestion feature is not (yet?) a smart one.

 

For example, if you type “View Point”, you find that this category does not exist. Two existing categories that could have been suggested by the system are “Scenic Point” or “Observation Deck”. If these two available categories are not part of your vocabulary, but instead you can only think of “view point” or “lookout” you are likely to end up in a situation that you cannot add that particular POI since you are required to give it a correct (existing) category. Instead you will first have to solve the ‘language puzzle’.

 

To make matters ‘worse’, in those scenarios that Google translated category labels to a foreign language and this translation ended up resulting in a category label that people would never use locally for that particular type of POI, it is going to be difficult for Local Guides in that country to guess which category label to use.

 

Definitions versus Ambiguity 

With Categories as well as the "Answer Questions" when you know a place, Google has yet to give us some definitions or guidelines with what they mean. As a result the whole system is full of ambiguities, even more so with the translations and the use and meaning of the same words in different languages.

 

I realise there are challenges that would be complicated. For example the category "castle" is to some a medieval fortification. Other may think of a Disney like palace with towers and yet others will associate it with the chateau of a vineyard. If Google would like to differentiate between these three, it would be difficult to train all Google Map users, and I cannot image Google would even try. So the solution would be to use data-points (some perhaps gathered by asking Local Guides certain questions) to separate those categories that are often mixed or confused.

 

In other discussions here on Connect, the Versailles near Paris is being discussed. It is marked as a category castle. The correct category should be "palace" , but that category is not available. So some argue it should be changed in to Tourist Attraction. I would personally object to this choice, as I find the category "museum" more appropriate. After all, it is an place of art and artefacts and a historical building that is being preserved by professionals, like they would with the treasures of Egypt in a museum in Cairo. It is a place of education and many school-trips will go there...not just tourists! Yet, some senior Local Guides insist that as it is probably one of the top three tourist attractions in France, it should be labelled with the category "tourist attraction". Without more specific guidelines or definitions, we can all have our differences of opinions and interpretations. The alternative is to tag a place with multiple categories, but as we already know from Gus that all museums will automatically come up if you search tourist attraction, we could conclude that if we were to speak of this missing tree/ hierarchy that in a certain scenario museums is a sub-category of tourist attractions. As we need to be specific as possible, I would argue that in any discussion if something should be marked as either tourist attraction or museum that the later is the more specific one 😉

 

 

 

@Lémanique

Here you can see that the list is actually in the official Help Desk Files of Google:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177/#categories

Check out the "Learn More" and in the first paragraph click on "Discover common Categories".

 

In case you are interested: here are many interesting Local Guides Connect posts related to Categories:

http://www.pearltrees.com/t/research/posts-related-categories/id17681574

 

This collection is a work in progress by the Research Team of the (unofficial) Local Guides Academy.

 

With kind regards,

Jeroen Mourik

 

 Check out the beginnings of our Local Guides Library with online resources.

 

 

Level 10

Re: Categories

Wow, thanks, great to see so much thought going into the matter.

 

Of course it is completely obvious that there is no point in sticking to categories for any real world reason.  We should just attach potential tags and be able to find and define anything with multiple tags.  One person's castle is another's tourist attraction.  Google has dealt with such problems many times and the answer is NEVER to try and force one and only one category or description.

 

From a programming/database/AI point of view we should be heading to a freeform, fill in whatever you think (multiple languages also) type of field.  Let the AI sort it out along the way.

 

Local Guides already uses algorithms to delay publishing based on various factors, obviously category could be sorted out like that along the way rather than adding a significant road block to new users or users in other countries not familiar with english categories or whatever way we choose to describe places

Level 8

Re: Categories

@AlexanderChalkidis hear! hear!

 

I totally agree with you. The user experience for the person who is trying to add a new place is VERY important. The example with the view point above, got me stuck one day and meant I had to put off adding the place. Now, I saw it as a interesting case study, but most Local Guides would be frustrated/ annoyed and as a result not bother to try adding a place again.

Level 10

Re: Categories

Good question. Keep up the good work! 

Level 8

Re: Categories

@chadindiana

Thank you. Since this conversation took place I have posted a series of articles about Categories to share the knowledge that I gathered after studying the subject here on connect.  

This particular thread with @AlexanderChalkidis inspired me to chew on it a little and let our ideas incubate. Last week I did a feature request that is directly linked to this thread with Alexander. You are invited to participate in the discussion and make suggestions how the proposed ideas could be improved.

 

6 Suggestions to Improve the Category User Interface

Level 7

Re: Categories

@JeroenM,

 

When I clicked on the link in your previous message, the result was this message in a box with a red background: An invalid set of parameters has been specified in the url.

Return to my original page

The link is working correctly now.

Level 7

Re: Categories

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10QhWFmHYhZI7FL7cQZUqkDkRbexPVthEIfp8iibhA3s/edit#gid=1618773...

that is what are we saying

that is the solution i've solved.

Please read this post before replying me! '''From --zixuan75'''
Level 7

Re: Categories

hellp my category light rail has been added to the maps and it is private. How to make it public?

Please read this post before replying me! '''From --zixuan75'''