What photos should I share on Google Maps?

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Every day, Local Guides share photos and videos on Google Maps that help millions of people around the world decide where to go. To best describe a place, your photos should show what the place looks like, what special features it has, where it’s located, and what visitors could do there. 

When we see photo contributions that violate our Local Guides program rules, Local Guides community policy, and Maps user contributed content policy, we remove them. This includes copied or stolen photos (photos that you haven’t taken yourself) as well as photos that are irrelevant to the location they’re uploaded to. If your photos have been made private or removed, they may have violated our policies.

Here’s a guide to photos you should share on Google Maps.

• Share photos taken by you at the location you’re contributing to. Photos and videos you upload on Google Maps should reflect your genuine experience at the place.

Caption: A photo that shows a person’s hands as they capture a photo of the dish in front of them using their smartphone. (Getty Images)

• Show us the special features of the place. Whether it’s a wheelchair ramp or a kid-friendly zone, make sure to share photos that show specific information about the place.

Caption: A photo of an accessible ramp and stairway next to a building. (Getty Images)

• Include helpful signage. Photos that show the menu, accessibility features, or a cash only sign are particularly helpful. 

Caption: A photo of a menu with photographs of plates of food and prices next to a window outside a restaurant in Nagano, Japan. (Local Guide Kouzi Kasai)

• Make sure your photos are recent and show the current state of the place. You may share photos you’ve gathered over the years, but make sure that they’re still relevant to the location and correctly reflect how it looks like today.

Caption: A photo of pedestrians walking on an elevated walkway of The High Line, a park in New York City. The walkway is lined with trees and plants and the park is surrounded by buildings. (Local Guide Michele Aiello)

What not to share

• Do not upload duplicate photos. Sharing the same photo more than once on one location or across multiple locations is a violation of our rules and policies and may result in your removal from the program.
• Avoid sharing selfies and group photos. These photos don’t help to represent the location, so save them for a different platform.
• Avoid sharing low quality photos. Dark and blurry photos, or photos with low resolution don’t give helpful information about the location and may be removed.  

Do you think you may have shared photos on Google Maps that go against our guidelines, rules, and policies? Go through your photo contributions, remove any photos and videos that may be considered irrelevant or spam, and help others easily find useful information. Remember if you delete your photos and videos or if they are removed by our team, your Local Guides points for those contributions will also be removed.