Adding Local Small Shops for Food Items and other needs in addition to Restaurants / Shopping Malls

[MahendraJ]

I would like to share my experience on the basis of my last trip to Junagad / Ahmedabad  in Gujarat. While I was navigating through Google Navigator I was able to get information on Hotels and other big places but was unable to get information on local market for shopping. It is not always necessary that you will have a big shopping mall in every place or any big shop for shopping. In Ahmedabad I searched for "Saree Shops" on Google Maps it showed me some options near me. When I went there it was extremely costly as good as you go to a Mall. The price range started from 3000. Hence In my view google local guide should also include following:

1. Wherever you are the google map should show you all the details of the area which should include shops, small hotels for breakfast, transportation advise etc.

2. GLG (Google Local Guide) should advise you on what should you prefer while selecting anything eg. you want to hire a cab for going to a place around 100 - 200 km away from you. GLG should advise you all the options which should show cost wise details for Private buses, Govt buses or hiring a car etc.

There are many such points which would help us do the micro level work so that the people will get actual help when needed.

[LuisRG]

Great points @MahendraJ.

Maps can show you information about places when you search for a specific category or type of business, but the information for that business needs to be accurate. That is a great way how Local Guides can help improving Maps.

And in some places we have started to include not just the time it will take to get there but also the price using several transportation services, that you can even book from Maps. Of course, this is something that will have to expand to more and more places, but the foundation is there 🙂

[MahendraJ]

Dear Sir, Thank you very much for your reply. In addition to the points raised by me I want to add more on the topic.

1. I have seen now a days Google has reached in the almost 45 - 50 % shops in the retail sector / small shops which are on the main roads, in my city i.e. Pune, Maharashtra, India. I have seen Google's sticker on their wall, that means they are on google. My suggestion is that if we instruct our google local guides or any Google representative to do the micro survey / visit of the certain areas then the data will be accurate and will be easily seen on the google maps. We can cover shops like Bakery, Photocopy Shop, Puncture Repair Shop, Pan Shop, Tailor, Tea Shop (ready to drink Indian tea), General Stores, Net / Cyber Cafe, Gaming Station, Medical Store, Clinic, Laundry, Cloth Iron Shop, Plumber Services, Hardware Shop, Electrical Shop, Dairy, News Paper Seller Shop etc.

2. Secondly, like in the present system the lady speaker when we navigate in the Google Navigator for directions. If we could have same idea in Local Guide like when we reach in a area of city the lady should tell us that this area if renowned for Foods / shopping of jewellery / clothes / make up items / etc. Like in our Pune city we have an area in the city where the areas are devided by their professions like Bhande Aali (for steel grocery / cooker / dishes etc.), Timber Market - Ply wood supply, Bohri Aali (birthday gifts / decoration items etc), Camp - Fasion Street - for clothes shops, Laxmi Road - Jewellery shops etc. The lady should tell us like..

If I am on Laxmi Road - we ask her -

Okay Google tell me something about this area?

Her reply should be - This is Laxmi Road - which is famous for the Jewellery Shops - You will find many Jewelers on this road - You can get many varieties of jewelries of various brands in a very competitive rates. This is Pune's famous jeweler market.

Okay Google what else is famous here?

There are many small restaurants, historical places are nearby to this area.

This will help the user / visitor / traveler to get the actual detailed information about the area than the theoretical information.

For this a lot of micro level work has to be done and by the LOCAL residents which are living in Pune  / concerned area since a long time and know the city / place very well.

I have seen by my experience that Google has yet now a lot of things to do because it has not yet reached to the villages of India the accuracy level is not upto the mark thought it is continuously improving. When I talk about the micro level it brings the 100% accuracy to the system.

We can do this by doing

1. Advertising more about Local Guide. We should offer more attractive schemes / offers to get the youngsters / teenagers / middle agers to the initiative. Advertising is the main aspect on which we must focus. Because as per me still 75% of the educated persons also don't know about this then the uneducated percentage is very high. In many parts of India the public yet do not know the power of Google. What a Google can do for them.

2. After we do the advertising, we will get the response by the local public they will be eager to contribute. A high number of contributors will help us reach the micro level data. Because as of now only Big Shops / Malls, Petrol Pump, theaters are shown on the maps and not the small but famous shops because they do not know about Google and its apps and services. I want share an example with you . I was in Girnar, Junagad, Gujarat last month. I was searching for a nice dining hall for the lunch and dinner. I searched on google it did not shown me many options and nothing near to my place. Then I asked local persons. 5 out of 5 answered me Patel Brothers Dining Hall is best and cost effective, means not very much costly. I went there and I was very much pleased with the quality and the quantity, taste at their hotel. You cannot believe a very very good lunch / dinner at Rs. 90 and it is unlimited you can eat till your stomach is full. Hence my point of view is that if we include the local contributors in the initiative we will really be HELPING the people.

[LuisRG · Accepted solution]

Hi @MahendraJ.

Regarding your first point, there is an initiative call Map Your World Week for this kind of things. Also, on the homepage you'll see featured a post about how to organize a Map editing meet-up, although you are free to host a Geo walk and map your area.

I'll pass along to the team your second point 🙂