[Suggestion] Re-structuring Local Guides?

[AdrianLunsong]

Hey folks,

A few of us were having a general chat on Hangouts and it came up that some Local Guides were very much biased towards photography and would venture out taking tons of photos of storefronts to add to Maps. No reviews left, just photos. Nothing wrong with that.. but it got us thinking that perhaps Local Guides in its current form should be re-structured.

As it is, someone could be a Level 7 Local Guide but may not be able to tell you anything about good places to visit, eat, drink etc because he/she is only interested in adding photos or making map edits. This, in my opinion, makes the Local Guide tag a misnomer.

What I would recommend is keep the existing branding/marketing terms/phrases/tags etc but introduce 3 sub-categories to better acknowledge the Reviewers, Photographers and Editors (for those into map editing and came in from the Map Maker programme). I think this would help emphasise the different and unique ways the community is contributing to Google Maps/Local Guides and give the appropriate recognition.

And to reward Local Guides for their specific contribution, you can colour code their badges; red for Reviewers, blue for Photographers and green for Editors. So, based on some form of algorithm, you can sort the current community into the 3 sub-categories.

Thoughts?

Edit: Kudos to JR Curley (can't find his tag!) for the discussion.

[LucioV]

Nice feature request!

[JeroenM]

Hi @AdrianLunsong,

I understand the point you are making but struggle a little to see how the three categories would work if somebody makes (let's say) both map-edit and reviews. Would their badge change color every time when the balance of contributions changes one way or another? Or would there also be mixed colored badges to emphasize a versatile contributor?

[FreakyFrank]

Sounds great for those who stick to one or the other, but what about those who equally contribute in 2 or more ways?

[JR_Curley]

Thanks for the shout out @AdrianLunsong!!!

Seconding what Adrian said, right now there are high level guides (yay!) that specialize in very specific elements of the program.

I've met a couple of LG's who are L8 and L9 who barely review (less than 150 reviews each). That's not their passion - their passion is taking pictures in bulk - literally walking down a street and taking 15 pictures of each business and then bulk uploading them at the end of the day. 

I've also chatted with L8 and L9 LG's who also aren't big into reviews, their passion is in adding value to the map via adding businesses, editing business information, and providing more data on a map specific side.

The third group that @AdrianLunsong and I talked about tend to dedicate their time to reviews, and will come to the table with hundreds if not thousands of reviews. However, they aren't into map edits, and although they upload photos, focus on 1-4 pictures per location.

Although we all are part of the same program, in reality there are some very large differences in the ways we add value to the LG environment (and Maps).

To the question about what if people do both or all three? I'm a good example of that, although my efforts tip over into the review side, which would mean that I'd be designated with the Reviewer color. Should I go out and take a ton of pictures, it would switch over to the Photographers color. 🙂

[iyudhi]

@AdrianLunsong @JR_Curley I agree with this point. As a user, when I see someone with a Local Guide badge on the reviews, I want to have a confidence that I can try his/her reviews. But in reality, the person might not know how to write a good reviews, but excel in other things like uploading photos, or map edits. Nothing wrong with these contributions of course, but right now there's no way to tell the difference.

It's great for you guys to bring this up. We need to make our voice heard 🙂