Forever Very Applied

[OStr]

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@GaryFunk wrote:

Only that 100% of the ones I mark are instantly "Not Applied."

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Yes, 100% of the single type of edit you've been trying to make, namely, closing fake businesses. Have you tried moving map markers?  Adding phone numbers and website info to legitimate businesses?  Creating new ones?

The problem you are witnessing has little to do with the main issue of this thread. What you identified is certainly a problem, but a different, more specific one.

[OStr]

@turbotapeworm, I, too, got an instant NOT APPLIED for the Tipsy Cow.

[turbotapeworm]

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@colinchaffers wrote:

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@turbotapeworm wrote:

One of them, a bar called "Tipsy Cow" is here:

Town End Works, Middleton Road, Morley, Leeds LS27 8AP

https://goo.gl/maps/dYmSKVjE1SB2

The dropped pin marks the doorway to the venue in question. 

This is their official Facebook page where I've been getting additional, I've also been to the site to test the theory that I can't add it because Google thinks I've never been anywhere near. 

https://www.facebook.com/TipsyCowLeeds/

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I see on Google street view it was an empty building Jun 2117 (quick work), if you search Town End Works, you can find 3 print companies, are they still operating? if they are not you might need to close them. The "drop pin" you showed only had map co-ordinates, if you used this you might have to click on the build to pick up the address. 

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The three print companies are a real mystery to me, I believe they are all the same place and have never seen any of them at this location despite their published addresses being there. I've marked all as "moved" but I have no idea where - I haven't tried to close them as respective websites appear to show they are all alive. 

I've tried using various points on the building itself to add the new venture but just set the marker on my post at the doors so you could see . 

Appreciate the input. 

[BruceDM]

Hello @OStr and all,

I wrote this yesterday but as a reminder again - we look for our contributions on Google Maps to be accurate representations of your personal visits and experiences. That is, the reviews and photos shared should be your own and they should be accurate representations of your personal experience there.  To add features to a place you don't have knowledge of or to make edits that are incorrect, for the sake of testing the backend, is a violation of Local Guides Terms & Conditions and potentially grounds for removal from the program.  For the accuracy of Google Maps, please share information that you know is accurate to the best of your own personal knowledge.

[turbotapeworm]

And equally Google should provide their team of volunteers (not even free Drive space now? Really?) with working tools and should issues arise be as transparent as possible, as soon as possible. 

[OStr]

@BruceDM, I am as vigilant about verifying the accuracy of my GMaps edits as I am with the work I do as an administrator on Wikipedia. I used multiple sources to verify the existence of the Tipsy Cow club before attempting to add it to the map.

The pictures I upload are all mine, and all my reviews are from first-hand experience. However, I will occasionally add a phone number for a business if I can confirm it using multiple sources, without necessarily calling up the business to test the number. I will also move markers for features that are clearly out of place, such as a store showing in the middle of a street, when the Google Street View clearly shows it in a nearby plaza. Personal experience certainly has its place, but so does common sense. I think you'll find my accuracy standards to be second to none. And based on what I read here, I believe the same is true for @colinchaffers.

I have never made a GMaps edit I knew to be incorrect, and the only time I accidentally erred was when I tried to correct the address of a clothing store to the other side of a street based on a picture I took, not realizing the store had two branches, one on each side of that street. I think that's a reasonable track record for over 800 edits.

I don't think the editing standards of the experienced LGs in this thread is our problem. Your comments here, while correct, may sometimes come across as unnecessarily heavy-handed.

[Flash]

@OStr,

I think you are misunderstanding @BruceDM's comment.  Mapping is not to be done via 3rd party resources.  Google is quite capable of scraping those sites themselves; but they do not do so as that would be a violation of copyright.

Editing within Maps is offered as a chance for people to supplement the sources Google already has with their personal knowledge.  In almost all cases the only resources that can be used beyond your personal knowledge is the imagery that Google supplies and the directly owned websites of the place.

If you do not have the personal knowledge to make an edit, you should be leaving it for someone else.

Bruce's statements here have not been heavy handed, but rather have been giving the rules of mapping so that you do not overstep and put your account at risk.  If one of his statements is unclear, feel free to ask more so that you can ensure you stay within the guidelines of proper mapping.

[OStr]

@Flash, I went over both the Local Guides Program Terms and Conditions, and the LG Community policy. The first says:

"you agree that when using Google’s products or services, you will not: [...] submit fake, falsified, misleading, or inappropriate reviews, edits or removals."

The second adds:

"Contributions must be based on real experiences and information. Deliberately fake edits, copied or stolen photos, off-topic answers, defamatory language, personal attacks, and unnecessary or incorrect edits are all in violation of our policy."

Nothing in this text implies I am not allowed to use reliable sources to verify information, and must rely on personal in situ experience. I don't have to fly to England to know that this bank is not in the middle of the street. And if GMaps were as all-capable at scraping information as you claim it is, we LGs wouldn't be running into so many cases of missing phone numbers or incorrect website URLs in listed features.

It is our duty as LGs to make sure the information we enter is accurate, but we no longer live in an age when the only way to know something is true is to go there and touch it. GMaps was able to grow to be the world's leading mapping service exactly because of this army of hard-working LGs who are not afraid to investigate and correct map features, whether in their own home town, or across the world.

[Flash]

You are quoting the terms for the LG program, which is separate from Maps contributions.  Contributions to Maps are covered by its own TOS and Google's Universal TOS.  The Universal TOS states:

"Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services."

If you are using 3rd party resources, you do not have the necessary rights to grant such a license.  You only have the necessary rights for personal knowledge.

You're repeated examples of items in the middle of the street come under the instructions that you can use Google supplied imagery, as Google has secured the rights for that imagery.  Correcting a marker position using someone else's map or another third party resource is not permitted.

In addition to the various TOS's that apply, the requirement of personal knowledge has been talked about over and over in these forums.  If you have missed it before, that why @BruceDM's posted.

[OStr]

@Flash, while I'm no expert on intellectual property law, I really don't think a phone number listed for a business on a Facebook page is copyrighted, nor is the mere fact that the business exists. Text and imagery can be copyrighted, not information. No copyright was violated by me learning that a club named Tipsy Cow exists at that address. Your attempts to discredit my edit based on the fact I didn't travel to England to verify it are, in a word, specious.