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How do I use the Idea Exchange and what happens to my ideas?

Googler

Caption: An illustration of two people commenting on a website.Caption: An illustration of two people commenting on a website.Update 1/10/2023: As of January 13, 2023, the Idea Exchange will disappear from the left-side menu, but your ideas will still be visible on your Connect profile and remain in our records. You are welcome to submit suggestions and feedback about Connect and the Local Guides program in How-tos after January 13. For more information, read here

 

The Idea Exchange is a place for Local Guides to share their ideas for Google Maps, Connect, rewards, and more. You can find it on the left menu on Connect.

 

Before you submit an idea on the Idea Exchange, please review the guidelines below.

 

Search the community before submitting an idea. It’s possible that someone else has already submitted the same idea or asked the same question. If that’s the case, you can show your support by voting for that idea. If we find that your idea is a duplicate of an existing post, we will merge the two. Votes will be merged as well.
 
Be specific about your idea. To help others understand what you’re suggesting, be very clear and detailed about your idea. Also, please include only one unique feature request in each idea post. That way, other Local Guides will know exactly what they’re voting for. If you have several different ideas, create an individual post on the Idea Exchange for each of them. Posts on the Idea Exchange with more than one feature request will be closed.

 

Choose a category that’s most relevant to your idea. When posting in the Idea Exchange, you’ll need to select a category that best fits your idea.

 

Here are each of the categories you can select:

  • Connect. Use this category to share ideas specifically about the Local Guides forum.
  • Perks. What rewards would you like to see? Use this category to tell us.
  • Local Guides. Do you want new levels or more points for certain contributions? Use this category to share ideas about the Local Guides program itself.
  • Meet-ups. Have an idea that can improve the experience of hosting a meet-up? Use this category.
  • Google Maps. This category is for all ideas that are a part of your Google Maps experience such as navigation, using the timeline, editing places, and more.
  • Other. Use this for ideas that don’t belong in any of the previous categories.


Vote on your favorite ideas. The top-voted ideas will be shared with our team. So, if you’re really passionate about something, show your support by voting and commenting on existing ideas. Please note: Our team will review top-voted ideas, but not all ideas will be implemented. 


Ready to submit an idea? Here’s how:

 

  • Click Idea Exchange on the left menu on Connect.
  • Click Share your idea.Caption: A screenshot showing the “Share your idea” button on the Idea Exchange.Caption: A screenshot showing the “Share your idea” button on the Idea Exchange.
  • Select the appropriate category for your idea and give it a clear, informative name. Then, describe your idea with as much detail as possible. Please note: if you do not complete all three of these fields, you won’t be able to submit an idea.Caption: A screenshot showing a new idea draft in the Idea Exchange.Caption: A screenshot showing a new idea draft in the Idea Exchange.

      

  • Next, click Submit. Your idea will be visible to the rest of the community and will have a “Voting Open” status. Other Local Guides on Connect will now be able to comment and vote on your idea.

 

In the Idea Exchange, ideas can be in different statuses. Here’s how an idea moves through them.

 

Voting Open. Brand new ideas submitted by you and ready to be voted on. The top-voted ideas will be shared back to the team.

Needs Information. A submitted idea might need clarification or additional feedback to help us understand it. Ideas with this status will be open to the community for votes and comments to help us make a better decision.

 

In Progress. Our team has reviewed the idea and they’d like to make it a reality. Although we won’t be able to say when this will happen, we will update the idea when we can.

 

Implemented. The idea has been put into effect as a result of your submission.


Revisit Later. The idea sounds interesting, but we cannot pursue it right now. It’s possible that we can take a look at it further down the road.

 

Closed. While we appreciate all of your suggestions, sometimes it’s not feasible for us to pursue them. Ideas that contain several feature request will be closed too.

 

We’ll mark your idea as Closed if:

  • It is not an idea, is off-topic, or is not related to Google Maps or Local Guides.
  • After one month, no additional information was shared as requested by a Google Moderator
  • After three months, an idea has less than 10 votes
  • After six months, we are unable to move forward with your idea

 

Thank you for taking the time to submit your ideas! We look forward to reading them.

 

 


Note: Due to the volume of private messages Googlers 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!.
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