Bug Report or Censorship? Location Had Reviews & Photos Now It Cannot Be Reviewed / Edited

[Phunky]

Happy New Year all,

This location has USG photos from past reviews but now cannot be reviewed, edited or photos added. This has been tried by myself and other LGs. Location: https://goo.gl/maps/WfXMq5njHgtub6SS6. 

I provided photos and a review to show a big problem with illegal tipping (which continues) and health issues for humans and animals. The USG photos that remain by a local guide make it appear like Disneyland. It is not the truth. There are human and animal dangers people have the right to know about.

I accept breaches of community guidelines but censorship as no-one can review or edit it is another thing. 

I'm doing various #dogood campaigns for animal and human wellbeing. If there's censorship I am aware of, as a community I want to know what to stay clear of.

[ErmesT · Accepted solution]

Hi @Phunky , nice to see you.

Happy new year to you 🎇

The link you shared with us is related to a Town square, that is an element of the Map Layer, like a road.

This is very well visible on the screenshot here below. 

So no bug nor censorship: We cannot add photos and reviews to an address. The photos are very old, and uploaded with a workaround that is no longer available, because it is a violation of the Map's rules. On Add, remove, or share photos and videos we can clearly read: You can't add photos or videos to addresses

[Phunky]

@ErmesT Hey Ernest HNY 2U2 😄 and thanks for coming back

What I can't understand is that it previously existed and removed. Now I know why. If a 'place' is changed from plaza to town square it goes from editable to non editable. 

Related to this for admins / google there's an issue with identical items meaning the same thing: a plaça (in Catalan) / plaza / town square are all the same thing. For Barcelona there's plaza or (plaças in Catalan) are all town squares by definition. Some are parks and historical landmarks :D. I don't mind doing the editing a lot (hello level 10) but what definition which distinguishes a plaza from a town square as they are the same thing?

Here's the most famous which is by definition a town square, historical landmark? 😄
https://goo.gl/maps/HXUNxKe6Co5ynLWd8 

here's some more famous or parks but which are classed by the city as town squares
https://goo.gl/maps/tLKnE2JygrxrYb2J7

https://goo.gl/maps/hk9ZtBPjdT5DESze7
https://goo.gl/maps/R4dWxRwBToRW7Nbh6 
https://goo.gl/maps/Mhmiat55o7KZJ55D6 

Thanks dude!!!!!!

[MashaPS]

Hello @Phunky,

In addition to @ErmesT's detailed reply, I would like to let you know that I am going to move your post to the How-tos section of Connect. This is the place where you may ask questions, share feedback and tips.

Thanks 

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @Phunky

There is nothing new about inconsistent categories on Google Maps. Plenty to be found and lots of duplicate places with different categories. And it is always a lot of work to research and fix such issues.

Maybe you already know everything about areas and items on the maps not accepting edits and photos, then others will enjoy reading this overview Shapes and Places - Guidance on where to add edits and photos including both flat and photospheres by PaulPavlinovich.

Cheers
Morten

[PaulPavlinovich]

Hi @Phunky I've set the Solution as the answer from @ErmesT to help others trying to understand the same thing.

In addition to what others have said, there may have been a place there at some point in time but it has been removed in a Maps clean-up which is an ongoing process.

Paul

[ErmesT]

Thanks @PaulPavlinovich , however I think I need to explain a bit more about the difference between a square (map element) and a square (Point of interest) @Phunky 

The difference is not related to the difference between a Point and a polygon, @MortenCopenhagen , the difference is more related to the quality of the place.

To simplify a can say that a square is a place where the people go to park the car, while a Square (POI) is a place where the people go to see the Square.

It can sounds like a word pun, @Phunky , but if you check the address of the Squares (POIs) shared by you, you will see that all of them are probably located in the square (location).

E.g.  St. Mark's Square is located in Piazza San Marco, Venice

Back to you case, it is not possible to change a category to transform a POI in a Location, because they belong to two different layers of Google Maps. If in the past it was possible to contribute and now you can't, it means that the POI has been deleted.

[PaulPavlinovich]

Very true @ErmesT and for the benefit of @Phunky @MortenCopenhagen and other readers who find this, when a place is deleted it means it never should have been there because it doesn't meet the rules used by Google Maps for what should and should not be on the Map. Its not censorship its maintaining data quality by deleting bad data. I've seen Local Guides add places again after they've been deleted by Google. Behaviour like that is deliberately adding bad data, doing it by accident because you don't know better is one thing, but if a person does it repeatedly it shows deliberate thought and I would expect consequences based on past experience.

Paul

[Phunky]

Thanks @PaulPavlinovich and @ErmesT for clearing that up. I can see now there's a logic to it. For a simple LG it isn't intuitive about bad data. I wouldn't have guessed it. I guess you guys will still have your work cut out with LG's 😛 

I guess I've seen my fair share of foul play on maps especially during COVID19. Notably businesses shutting down other's businesses, moving businesses elsewhere on the map or re-starting profiles to change the ranking or to game local SEO. Not cool.  

A take away is to have in the weekly or monthly summary or a push notification that items have been promoted. If things have been removed, it would make it a transparent doing so people see a little more. By taking away, it could give back by suggesting that there's other places on the map to explore and update (for more points / be the first one).  

I'm happy to make this a 'suggestion' if you think it has merit. Otherwise I'll just leave it here 😛

Be cool! 

[PaulPavlinovich]

Hi @Phunky any idea is worth raising. Please go ahead and do it.

Both businesses and Local Guides do undertake bad practices from time to time. I reported a place today that needs to be cleaned up covered in fake reviews. I recommend that you report the people involved via the Maps App. If you have something you think is systemic or complex, e.g. you've discovered a profile with several aliases posting the same content then make a post here in How-To topic "I would like to report a Local Guide" and a Googler will contact you privately.

Paul