Share your best tips for other Local Guides in the New Year here

[FredO]

Taking great photos
Great pictures for every local guide is ehrn it serbes the purpose.

From my part of the world, local guides help tourist alot because their contributions bring out hidden and unknown places effectively not to even talk about places or spots with " OPENING SOON" signage. Taking photos of such places in a 360 degree approach brings out every detail of the location be it interior and exterior. Also taking pictures with HDR settings ON from the mobile device makes images greater and nicer even at night.

Adding some description of the place enhances the beauty of the image posted and that can generate the necessary  interest about the place.

Answering questions
Always try to answer questions in brief with the necessary ingredients for the target. usually updating photos and adding new photos of locations answers reduces questions.

Tracking down missing and incorrect information (editing a place)
Let your daily walk and photo walks dobthe job.

Go to places of interest and along the way u can pick up fresh info and at the destinations you can then correct all identified errors. Taking pictures whiles waiting fir your date or orders are times you cant afford to let go.

[Anonymous]

I found checking focus on small screens such as DSLRs and smartphones can be completely out of focus when enlarged on a desktop screen.  

Focus Tips

1. Have a steady hand before capturing.

2. Focus as best you can.

3. Take three or more photos if possible.

4. Zoom in on the viewfinder or smartphone to see if it is in focus. 

5. Give yourself a Whoop! Whoop! (Shoulder shrug) 

Whitemud Park

[GerryD]

I moved recently to Ipoh, Malaysia and am discovering some great new places to visit and to go eat.

My wife and I enjoy bird photography, so there will definitely be a slant toward that in my reports. 🙂

Happy 2017!

[TINA]

I disagree with your "be nice" comment.  I think its everybodys duty to be 100% truthful when asked to give a review. 

Personally I don't give a negative review about a shop or pharmacy for example if I have only visited once.... it means that I've had the misfortune on more than one occasion!

[NixonM]

This is how I mapped all of the Health Facilities in my country, Rwanda, and added 1828 places overall in 2016.

1. Mapping is easy. What you need is data.

2. I have accurate data for my country, such as schools, hospitals, health center, and other important places in format of shapefiles .shp. These data are reliable.

3. I stopped Candy Crash Saga and made Google Map my favorite relaxing tool: this is the most important step.

4. Convert ESRI shapefiles .shp into KML: Open Google Earth Pro and open shapefiles and then save the shapefiles as KML, choose a location to save.(It's important to divide the data based on geographic attribute so that you don't add a location twice. Like that, you will have layers of 50 places each, and you add them to Google Maps in a one go, and take a break. You can easily divide shapefiles based on an attribute using Quantum GIS which is an open source tool)

5. Open google.com/mymaps and create a map, import the KML layer(s) to your map. 

6. Open Google Maps app on your smartphone, and go to >Your Locations/Maps and open the map that you want.

7. Add satellite images to make sure that it's a reliable place; for example if it's a school you will see some features convincing that it's a school indeed, and proceed with adding the locations to your map.

Done.

Another tip is that if you want to produce a professional map, just use Google My Maps, and add one layer of the data you want to map, Google Maps will provide professionally themed underlay map

[MarcoL]

 In my reviews, I try to tell what I'd like to know before going there. I generally start with objective information about my experience at that place:

- Which kind of place it is. For a restaurant is it Mediterranean, Chinese, fusion... 

- How big is the place?

- How much choice there is (for shops/restaurants)?

- How crowded the place was and was there a long line?

- Was the staff kind and helpful or rude?

- How expensive is it?

I tend to specify when I visited the place if I believe this can affect some of the previous answers. A restaurant is often different at lunch or dinner, during weekdays or weekends. This info does not affect stores and museums, as it is given that they are more crowded at peaks times.

I continue with useful complementary information

- Is it easier to arrive here by car/public transit/bike....

- Is there parking for cars, and if there is, is it free?

- Is there something like special offer for lunch or for a specific group of people (only if this is not present on their website)

I finish with a subjective rating of the place

- Did I like the food/exhibition and why?

In this last part, I try to be as specific as possible and absolutely avoid generic adjectives which do not add anything like "good, bad, great, awsome, horrible". Saying that a meal was bad does not tell anything, saying that vegetables were overcooked, very oily, not fresh tells much more. 

If there are only a few pictures I add my own, if there is plenty of them I add it only if it's different from what there is.

[gZ]

Steady

[MohammadA]

Totally agree with you 

[MohammadA]

Always try to make your photos for the places wide. to show the surrounding area, this way it will be easier for people to find it.

Even if you are short on mobile data, just turn geotag on your mobile, and upload it later when you have wifi connection

[T KS]

Start with correcting any incorrect reviews and details that are added by fellow local guides. Then move on with places you have visited, Google Maps keeps track of the locations you have visited and will show these locations when you start to review.

Photographs:

Although most visited places tend to have more pictures as compared to other lesser known locations, Don't take photos just to add to local guides, instead take ones that you really like and would like to share with others. These photos get more average views than your social profile pictures. So make sure that you cherish each photos.

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@BellaW wrote:

As Local Guides, you’re the explorers who share daily discoveries on Google Maps, from reviewing great lunch picks to photographing lesser known parks and other beautiful finds near you. While connected by a mission to make it easier (and tastier!) to navigate the world, each of you contributes in your own way. To celebrate all these efforts and kick off 2017, we’re compiling a list of your best tips from the past year.

On this post, share your insights into:

• Taking great photos
• Writing helpful, detailed reviews
• Adding hidden or great new places
• Answering questions
• Tracking down missing and incorrect information (editing a place)

Feel free to add anecdotes and inspiring stories about any of your favorite local finds and give kudos to anything added here that you find helpful

p.s. Check out our in-house photo expert @AnnaDickson’s tips on how to upload great photos to Google Maps.

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