12-11-2018 02:33 PM - edited 05-11-2019 06:49 AM
A slight feeling of embarrassment originally kept me from publishing this tip, as it is based on my own experience as a beginning local guide, and as I felt really silly when I figured out what the solution was. But then I noticed on the Connect forum that there were several occasions where a local guide posted that (s)he was facing exactly the same problem. So I will confess to it after all.
When you add a new point of interest, one of the mandatory fields is 'category'. You can't submit the information unless you add something in that field. And obviously you want to add the best fitting category. But the problem seems to be that the list you get presented to choose from is quite short and only contains some general categories (Restaurant, School, Bank, etc). Some very basic business categories like 'Hair salon' or 'Accountant' are simply not listed!
If you're at this point, you have made the invalid assumption - as I had initially done - that the categories in that list are the only ones you can choose from. They are not. Not by far. You should really only look at them as a kind of frequently used categories that are shown as examples. In reality you can access almost 4.000 different categories in English (or 3.000 in most other languages). The only thing you need to do is start typing the name of what you are looking for. In the hair salon example, typing 'hair' will certainly show you the category you are looking for. Yes, it is that easy.
Other posts in this series:
Best Practice: Find new places to add to the map
Best Practice: Fix inconsistencies in chains
Best Practice: Learn to be patient
Best Practice: Reporting duplicates
Best Practice: Industrial Zones
This is a revised version of a post that I had published earlier, before the switch of the forum to its current format.
Disclaimer: the practices described here as best practice are my personal interpretation, and I don't claim any level of official endorsement.
12-15-2018 12:22 AM
Hello @JanVanHaver,
Thank you for another amazing post. You're absolutely right about searching category on google maps. I've few useful links to share with you & other visitors.
Thank you
12-15-2018 08:13 AM - edited 12-15-2018 08:20 AM
Thanks for adding those links @deepakjhic. The problem with static lists, however, is that they are no longer up to date when Google makes a change to the categories. That is why I usually use this great free tool to retrieve the up to date list at any given moment. I use it to check from time to time if new categories are added - as far as I can see, the last time this happened was the time I described in this post.
04-29-2019 02:50 AM
04-20-2020 09:44 AM
Excellent post JanVanHaver, not silly at all, in fact it is rather helpful. But my point is that Local Names, nuances will only be caught if we are allowed an 'Others' category. e.g. Kirana Shops are an important format of Retail in India, Panwala is a very small, ubiquitous but important retail format which has no equivalent in English language. Just something to ponder!
And I listened to your podcast too.....it was excellent.
04-20-2020 12:25 PM
Thank you for that wonderful feedback @yagokd .
As for the missing categories: I know categories that are available for local types of businesses (meaning: not in US, only in one or a few countries), so it is not impossible to have those included. My suggestion would be to create 1 separate post on Idea Exchange for each specific category you would like to have added on Maps (as you noticed: if the idea you post is not very specific, there is a big chance it will get merged), and in that post explain clearly why having that category would be an added value to the local users of Google Maps - and include a picture illustrating your argumentation if possible. I have an example where this technique has proven to be successful in this post (which has the status 'In progress' now).
06-09-2020 07:33 AM
Hello!
It's possible to add new category when you adding missed places?For example, Summits on mountains and Rocks or we only can add business locations on cities maps?
06-09-2020 08:04 AM - edited 06-09-2020 08:05 AM
Hello @borachok,
There is no option for Local Guides to add new categories by themselves on Google Maps, however if you notice that a category is missing in your region, you can suggest this as an idea in Idea Exchange, board. To learn more about the Idea Exchange, you can read this article How do I use the Idea Exchange?
Please note that I merged your post here: Best Practice: Find the right category, where you can read more about categories. If you need any further help, Connect Moderator @JanVanHaver is a category savvy, and he is going to lend you a hand.
Due to the volume of private messages Google moderators receive, I do not read or respond to private messages. Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. If you require urgent assistance, please tag a Google Moderator. Thank you!
07-18-2020 04:05 AM - edited 07-18-2020 04:07 AM
07-18-2020 04:19 AM
It's always very nice to get such feedback from a scholar 😉 @Scholar