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

[TraciC]

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.

• 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.

• 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.

[kurumama]

thank you descriptive

[Tillu]

@Tracic your Idea exchange program is very good I impress I like.

[AviTarafder]

Thanks @TraciC

[Seedra]

 Thank you @TraciC

[bryantanner]

@TraciC I have a question. I'm super motivated by the 1TB Google Drive perk/benefit, which is supposedly unlocked at Level 4 (250 points). I just wanted to know if that perk was still viable. I have over 250 points. But I haven't seen any change to my account yet. (It's only been 5 minutes. I'm so anxious.)

[Sainadhgupta]

Hi TraciC's

It is very much helpful

Thanks for the post 👍

[jojo522]

Coming with new ideas with time and impliment it is always welcome. Such encouragement is benifitial.Google has always the best ideas   at the top

[Isteyak_234]

Please help me, when i got Perk Gift Box from google,the box was already broken and in the box there’s nothing except thanks card,the gift was missing. Can someone help me to solve that problem and contact to Google representative...?

[Shrut19]

Namskar..

@TraciC

Thanks for informative Helpful article..

Regards From Mumbai..

[amori1]

مشاركه رهيبه فعلا

[WillHarrison]

@TraciC, thanks this is very helpful!!

I started to suggest and idea in the way you describe but noticed it was already suggested, so instead I follwed this link to see what was posted there.  The question was exactly what I was going to ask, but the topic was already ended with a solution in Feb 2012.  So far, nothing has happend to fix the issue. How long until another idea is suggested, reprompting the issue?

I was suggesting that google make the dates and places in your contribute section searchable, this would be a great feature as I come close to over 1000 photos. I am sure others with more photos would agree.

Is there a way to keep the suggestion going or resuggest it be made a priority?

Thanks, Will

[GeorgesHR]

Hey @WillHarrison,

Thanks for reaching out.

Unfortunately if an Idea has already been closed, this means that we found the idea not feasible and we will not pursuit implementation.

[riddleschool]

thanks for sharing

[go8ogle]

Danke ! ihre mögliche schreibung und ihre  erklerungen für aller richtung wertfoll einschatze geseigt.

[deepakrajak]

Thanks for sharing......

[Harpal]

@TraciC,

I have submitted an idea. It is still in progress. I would like to know if I can submit another idea now or wait till the first one is decided?

[TraciC]

 @Harpal If an idea is in progress, it is because it takes time to work on an idea. Please don't submit a duplicate idea as the Google Moderators will merge it into that single place. Thanks for your patience. 

[Harpal]

@TraciC,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm sorry if I wasn't able to frame my question well. 

What I meant was that can I submit another idea under another category or wait till my first idea is completed.

Thanks!!!

[sonnyNg]

Hi @Harpal,

You may indeed submit another idea, as long as it may not duplicate the previous one! : ]

As a side note, please make sure to tag a Google Moderator, only when it is really necessary.

[ThomasG1]

Thanks for this post. Useful 🙂

[Liyas]

Thank you @TraciC . your post is very helpful!

[HenriqueOrsi]

Very clear and well explained. Thanks, @TraciC! 👍🏼

[LuiAcha]

Thank you, I get it now! 🙂

[Adelina90]

This is very helpful! Thanks 🙂 

[joe_chellappan]

Thank you @TraciC for your valuable post.

This one is a good forum to exchange our ideas. 

Regards

Joe_chellappan

Level7

Bangalore, India

[joy101]

thanks for inform me right information. It give me idea to do next. 

[siqbal]

Very detailed information. Thanks for sharing. 

[clementleonb]

Thanks for your valuable information...

[Manju_Sharma]

Thank you TraciC 😊

[Kroubi]

Thank you for sharing Dear @AngieYC

[Conetevé_Guate]

Excelente. No había leído este tema.

[SUMEET1]

@Shrut19 

[AlfredBrock]

This is too limited. 

[Venu2]

Thanks for the info. Will keep in mind for posting ideas, if any.

Regards

[ABIN1]

Thank you for sharing help FULL 

[Anonymous]

Well guide for ideas to submit. Submitting ideas is going to make better Map thanks @TraciC 

[badia]

important information
thank you

[ikewsung]

ขอบคุณสำหรับคำแนะนำที่ดีสุดที่มอบให้ ขอบคุณผูดูแลระบบ

[Aktherhossain]

This article is informative & helpful for us.

Best Regards,

Akther Hossain

[ABIN1]

TERIMAKASI semua  untuk saling membantu dan kerja sama nya😘

[MukulR]

@TraciC Thanks for the great article as always. 

[01008406790]

ممتاز

شكرا

[Gabii7]

Gracias me fue muy útil 

[husam_harb]

Thank you I have received the information now quite clear.

[SeeCangkir]

Terima kasih atas penjelasannya

[JeroenM]

Dear @MortenSI,

Could you please explain how it works with ideas that are similar and are being merged with the already existing idea?

Yesterday you merged an idea here, and since this earlier idea was already closed, it makes no sense to me.  Was this an indirect way of closing the idea that you merged? If so, that was not clear from your comment.

It does make sense to keep the discussion together, but with the current 6-months rule it basically means that as great ideas are piling up and all need time to be evaluated and some great ideas may be low on the Local Guides Team priority list, does Closed mean completely off the table (as I understood it) or of the short term table?

If the latter, can closed ideas be re-opened? I see plenty of discussions going on by Local Guides on Closed ideas and before I join in, I like to know if I am wasting my time.

I thank you in anticipation. 

JeroenM

[MortenSI]

Hi @JeroenM,

Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry if my message was unclear. 

As you know we merge ideas to keep the votes and discussions in one place. We do this regardless of the status of the original idea. 

Any closed idea can be opened again if the team thinks it's worth having a second look at, and that's why you will see new ideas being merged to already closed ones. We close older ideas that have not yet been implemented to comply with the our policies, but we will always be able to look back at these ideas if there's is an interest in them.

[JeroenM]

@MortenSI 
Thank you very much for the clarification.

[EL_SE]

thanks

[JeroenVanBemmel]

I just created my first idea posting, and it shows as a statistic (1 idea) but I cannot find back my posting.

Title was something like "Connect in person - social tipping" (and I picked the "Connect" category which may not be the best match)

I made 2 small edits ( add strike-through, some extra words ) and the message disappeared.

Any suggestions on how I might find it back?