Google maps main photo

[Anonymous]

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[sonnyNg · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for reaching with us.

From what I could deduct, you were mentioning about the thumbnail photo, correct?

If that is the case, please make sure to follow the guidelines, as it may provide higher chance for the photo materials to be picked.

[Osaka78forTRUMP]

Dear @Anonymous, hope all's well.

The trick is to take great photos 📸=😃

SveinR's post: What I have learned by posting 10600+ photos, earning 8300+ points and getting 130+ million views

AnnaDickson's post: How to Upload Great Photos to Google Maps

Kind regards from Osaka78

[OmerAli]

a million dollar question @Anonymous

But I assume its done automatically by Google's Algorithm. I believe its about picking up the most relevant image (most viewed) as the main photo. 

E.g. when you add a new business and a new photo to it on Maps, Google's algorithm has no choice to but to use that image as it goes along. 

  People will then start uploading pictures and I believe Google's algorithm picks the main cover based on

• images with no copyright infringements
• no duplicates
• Number of Views
• Number of Likes

That is just my assumption (coming from computer science background and having worked on Artificial Neural Networks , that is how we try to define our algorithms for Best-fit options)

cheers

[ErmesT]

Hi @OmerAli

My thought is a bit different: I think that view and likes depends of the position of the photo. If your photo is on the cover of the business, you will have much more possibility to quickly increase the number of views.

I suppose that the algorythm choose the picture according to the quality (size, saturation, colours). There is a business in my area where I usually have one of my picture (not always the same) on the cover.

The actual photo is showing the entrance of the store, and the name of the business is clearly visible. Previously, the picture was showing a product (pepperoni)  that is sold only in summertime

[Anonymous]

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[OmerAli]

@ErmesT

try the link to to test few of the Google's Machine Learning Vision Algorithm properties, that is applied on every image that is uploaded on the maps.

https://cloud.google.com/vision/

You were right, the cover photo for a business takes precedence (because at the start its the only photo there and most likely set by business owner) but over time when people upload many pictures, Google's algorithm picks best of the best. I believe high contrast , brightness or size can not be good quality factor. For. Example, if you upload Psychedelic Kaleidoscope instead of a real image of a business, it will always have good brightness, richer contrasts.  - Just a thought though.

[ErmesT]

Haha, of course @OmerAli, the meaning of "quality" was referring of pictures that are related to the business, so there is not contradiction in this.

Machine learning have an important role in this process. We are now feeding the system with more information, adding a name to every photo of products, so the machine learning is improving day by day