Reconsider selection criteria for new places

[#1]

The Goole Maps help section mentions "You can publicly add places, like a business or landmark, to the map", but when you click through to the pages with more details on which types of places exactly can be added, you land on the Google My Business help pages, listing eligible and ineligible businesses. A similar focus on businesses is reflected in the list of categories available to choose from.

My proposal is to move a bit away from this 'businesses-first-focus' and rather consider anything eligible to be added to the map which can be a destination for users of Google maps. Those are not always in search of something they want to buy - there can be lots of other types of destinations. An example would be some types of publicly accessible art forms. Right now there are categories for 'Tourist attraction' and 'Statue' and that's about it. But what about street art like e.g. murals? Those can not really be called a Tourist attraction in the sense you would plan your next trip abroad just to see it, but might very well be a destination for someone exploring a new city. This leads to awkward situations whereby even a very famous one by Keith Haring in Pisa is currently categorized as 'Exhibit'. By the way: if you want to see some really nice ones, check out this post started by HUMVILA.

Another domain where examples can easily be found is health-related POIs, such as

• AEDs, an idea already suggested by AndrewCU (here) davidhyno (here), JMcG (here), RohithaF (here), I_SS_A (here) and Volkert (here) in other posts
• baby hatch, as suggested by TorM (here)
• safe injection sites (another suggestion from RohithaF) 

Also various water-related destinations seem hard to map right now, as shown in the post by Shahak_B about canal locks, based on his personal experience, the post by Nick-Hobgood on dive sites, which can be meaningful destinations both from the divers' and from an environmental perspective, the post by Elaa about offshore installations and this post by Arni on water ways. And as AJJvBEEK points out in one of the comments below: lighthouses are also not available as category to select. In another comment (page 9 of the comments) JordanBurleson mentions the new trend in water-related amusement: splash pads (or spraygrounds).

In the field of waste management and recycling, additional categories could be helpful as well, as e.g. illustrated in the posts about

• dustbins by Jaidev_Kalla (here), Sanaidhgupta (here), Jhilikmukherjee (here) and ChandraBanu (here)
• donation boxes by RohithaF (here)
• recycling station by Clemersondesales (here)

And fellow local guides I jxsarlo and DAvagnina point out (here and here) that people practicing outdoor sports will most certainly benefit from having the possibility to add certain types of nature elements. Another nature-related suggestion was made by GEORGECANDERSON in his post on protected trees.

[Rahul_Suresh]

@JanVanHaver From where i am from(India),Electric Cars are not sold as much as Electric Two/Three wheeler's do, Electric Vehicle Dealer which deal with Two/Three wheeler's has different brands to offer from. In short they act like a Agency for different brands.

[Rahul_Suresh]

I live in a state where Paddy field farming is practised so there are a lot of Paddy fields. But no such category exists. So how about Paddy Field as a category on Google Maps ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_field

[Rahul_Suresh]

All the parking places on Google Maps that are not "free to use" can be made under this category? How about this ?

[Rahul_Suresh]

There are a lot of Commercial building in my city where the owner of it rents out rooms or even a floor for Commercial purposes. Sadly there is no such category as Commercial building.

[IcebergAzul]

This is a great idea. In Tijuana, Mexico there is a recent increase of cost in some parkings of malls. People will be benefit of this idea.

[Rahul_Suresh]

Fishing spot as a category would be nice. Places like a Creek fit perfectly. 

[Rahul_Suresh]

Right now most of them use Alternative Medicine Practitioner as category since Ayurveda is a type of alternative medicine but it means more like a One Man Show due to the word Practitioner being part of it.

You can read more about Ayurveda at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda

[Rahul_Suresh]

Payments banks is a new model of banks conceptualised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is India's central banking institution. These banks can accept a restricted deposit, which is currently limited to ₹100,000 per customer and may be increased further. These banks cannot issue loans and credit cards. Both current account and savings accounts can be operated by such banks. Payments banks can issue services like ATM cards, debit cards, net-banking and mobile-banking. Bharti Airtel set up India's first live payments bank.

Since there is a rule that the bank must use the term "payments bank" in its name to differentiate it from other types of bank. How about Payments bank as a category too?

Wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payments_bank

[Rahul_Suresh]

Right now only E commerce agency exists which makes it look like an E commerce company outsourced the work to that agency. So how about E commerce company as a category? 

[Rahul_Suresh]

The Indian food security system was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute subsidized food and non-food items to India's poor. This scheme was first launched in February 1944, during the Second World War, and was launched in the current form in June 1947. Major commodities distributed include staple food grains, such as wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene, through a network of fair price shops (also known as ration shops, that's what we call it ) established in several states across the country. Food Corporation of India, a Government-owned corporation, procures and maintains the PDS.

Right now most of them fall under Rice shop, So how about Public distribution system as a category?