You're right -- I think that there was supposed to be an automatic reward of the Cloud space, but that they botched it. Also it appears that this reward required participation on these boards, this "space" for Local Guides, which I didn't know existed until I came looking for my drive space. When I came here and signed in I was instantly and automatically awarded badges for little milestones that I had earned months ago. I suspect that for every person who makes it this far, there are a dozen others still wandering about lost in the outermost circle of hell. After a while in this circle, you'll realize that a few of the denizens here have wings and hooves. These are Google employees who are empowered to give you what you should have been given automatically at the moment you reached Level 4. Even though March 17 + 30 days was the deadline to ask for the disk space, for which you worked so hard to get and to which you and I both know you're still entitled, because this SNAFU has Google's names written all over it, they might give you a hard time about "being late." Resist.
That Google expects us to continue contributing to their database for such fleeting premiums, that their system fails to acknowledge completion automatically, that they haven't mentioned that they have made a bad error, that they've failed to offer any sort of apology, all this and more bespeaks that they have an under-funded, under-planned, confused program with probably underpaid workers or perhaps even a plague of incompetence. If they are not working to solve the short-range problem, how can I imagine they're going to solve the long-range problem of offering enough incentives to keep us contributing to their map system.
Sorry to wax so philosophical. Find yourself a Google employee (their status is on their messages), write to them, tell them your problem, and stress that you did your best to inform them before the deadline. Good luck.
@FredL - A member from the team has gotten in touch with you privately via email.
@MasonW - Drive benefits have never been automatically added to users' Drive storage space. Before the Drive storage promotion ended, all Local Guides upon reaching Level 4, would receive an email notifying them about the milestone, in which will include an activation code for the Drive benefit. You may have missed the email due to your Local Guides email settings. To manage your email preferences, visit the Local Guides settings page. It may take up to 7 days for your email preferences to be implemented. In addition, while the Drive storage benefit was the longest running promotion we had, it was never announced as a permanent benefit. With the global community constantly growing, the Local Guides Program is always evolving its features and perks offered.
These badges you mentioned were awarded when Local Guides join this community forum. Connect is a completely optional community forum, and even without joining Local Guides Connect, your Local Guides status (points, levels, benefits unlocked) can be found on your Local Guides home.
Thank you for writing. I apologize if I have misinformed people. It's hard to see what's going on because of a prevailing confusion among the group. Lots of people seem to think they should have the Google Drive storage by dint of meeting the March 17 deadline, but few seem to have it.
I checked my email, and here is the body of the message about my reaching Level 4:
Your Legend Continues You've reached Level 4. That means you've contributed at least 200 times to Google Maps. Keep making a heroic impact to get to Level 5.
There's no mention either way of the space on Google Drive. Was there some other mail as well? I was able to reach a Google employee within the forums, and I was granted my space. So all's well that ends well, but I feel bad for all those people who don't seem to have the foggiest idea what's going on.
I'm a little confused by why you're writing me. Is there something I can do for you?
Google had a drive in March whereby Level 4 contributors would unlock extra gigs for photos as per below.
The Google Drive promotion is ending, but Local Guides who reach Level 4 by 17 March 2017 can still unlock 100GB of free storage. Stay tuned for more features and perks to pop up throughout the year.
I was a level 4 contributor however never received further updates on how to claim these additional gigs therefore must assume that they were automatically allocated. I do hope this is the case as I assist my community in promoting their businesses by drawing in people from other towns to visit as my community relies on weekend visitors. My photos are a huge asset in doing this.
Hi @LucioV, @ErmesT, @Csaba, @FaridTDF and @YK1001. We do indeed have a 1,000 photo upload limit here on Connect for all Local Guides, except for moderators (Google Moderators and Connect Moderators). We encourage Local Guides to share their best images here on Connect and perhaps a link to a Google Photos album or Google Maps listing for more images, which should be easy for many as photos being shared on Connect are usually photos already on Google Maps and many people already have images backed up to Google Photos, too. We realize that won't be the best solution for everyone but will continue to look at how images are being shared on Connect and the feedback around it.
The Google Drive promotion is ending, but Local Guides who reach Level 4 by 17 March 2017 can still unlock 100GB of free storage.
Hi @LaureenR The promotion did end on 17 March, but it must have been activated within a month. Since you're posting on 20 April it is already too late to unlock the free storage.
By the way, your. post here is off topic for this thread. If you believe you should still be allocated the storage you should start a new thread of your own
I have invested much time and energy on contributing for google maps, and yet, i i have never in my life got even one thing i return from google maps for my contribution.
why is that and what should i do?
this is upsetting annoying and degrading, i feel like a victim to this fraud.
hey i would like it if you could please answer my question.
forget about the google drive thing, which is upsetting and unfair.
i have never in my life got even one thing i return from google maps for my contribution.
why is that and what should i do?
I think I am the wrong person to ask that question. I do it for the challenge. . There were and still are so many map errors around where I live that I just felt I had to do something about it. Anyway, I'm retired and have a lot of time on my hands.
2022
