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Level 10

Checking the Facts Tips

Hello Local Guides Connect,

 

Last weekend I participated in @Osaka78forTRUMP's Weekend Maps Challenge, which involved how many facts can you check within an hour. Within that timeframe I verified about a staggering 511 suggested edits, so that's roughly about 7 seconds each. For a shocking number, it's a pretty darn solid amount, and for myself is probably one of the highest rates of getting things verified. So I was asked to share and disclose how I managed to verify such a large amount. Well, it's no secret to share, so here is how I do so.

 

Post banner. There's like a whole school of edits waiting for your manual verification!Post banner. There's like a whole school of edits waiting for your manual verification!

What is checking the facts, and why is it important?

Checking the facts allows other local guides to verify whether or not a suggested edit made by another user or local guide is correct or not. A few days ago I had another Google Maps user verify a few local changes, and as soon as she verified them, I instantly received a notification that those edits were live. This ensures that as a primarily crowd-sourced app and worldwide database that people are making the most ideal edits and there is an innate sense of responsibility within each of the local guides.

In the screenshot above, there are about fifty or so edits that were verified. The location of the screenshot is in the remote town of Bathurst. Remote and rural towns and cities may actually hoard a treasure trove of edits waiting to be verified. While the majority of edits are reviewed by Google, there are an additional sum of edits that can verified faster by fellow local guides. By navigating to these rural town centres, I was able to rack up considerable amounts of easily verifiable edits (mainly common sense names and quick website checking) and progress onwards with my contributions. Mainly through this method (except for about two instances where I've actually ventured to these places to confirm their existence), I currently have about a solid 7,000+ amount of facts checked.

 

Screen Shot 2017-10-19 at 13.47.58.pngBut wait, you're not verifying places nearby?!

In essence, you really don't have to. While clicking the button navigates to an area where you are, you can pan the map anywhere you wish, even if you haven't been there before. While this seems to be counterproductive and/or contrary to a first hand experience, this is very much justifiable.

There are plenty of edits that people or even third parties suggest all across the country that you can verify without having to physically be at the place. This allows edits that require real physical intervention to be focused on, such as existence, phone numbers, roads and addresses.

 

Okay, how can I do this?

Based on my experiences, this can only be done on an android device that has the fact filters enabled. As far as I know, the desktop or iOS versions do not have these filters enabled, so this may not be feasible to everyone. The first thing you need to do is to tap the 'Check the facts' button, which will then display all your local suggested edits needing verification. For some you might have a whole stream of edits, for others you might only get a handful. For limitation sake (which I will go into more detail later), do all your local edits first.

CTF Filters.pngThe next thing you will need to do is to enable some specific filter categories. This will look like the following, as pictured on the right. The name, category and website are the most common sense, that for the majority of cases everyone can verify them. You might not be able to highlight all three categories at once as you may need to navigate to another part of the map to have all three appear, but once that's done you're ready to start the journey of verification.

 

Here is what the verification process will look like after you've selected a place to verify. The end result should be clear as mud.Here is what the verification process will look like after you've selected a place to verify. The end result should be clear as mud.Once you've found a spot with a few places to verify (denoted by a orange-outlined circle with a plus sign), select one of them. The following screen will appear. Here you can select whether or not the name, category or website is correct. To analyse further information such as looking at the description of the listing, use the three-dots on the right side followed by 'View place details' or 'View website' to further support your decision.

For the most part, not all of these changes are straightforward. Some of them might have the name of a completely different business, otherwise unverifiable without actually being physically present. The 'Next Place' button at the bottom will be something you will use very often to skip the verification item if you are unsure. Personally I do not use the 'Not Sure' because that does not help anyone, and they do not contribute to the total amount of points, leave that to someone else who is local or passing by there or yourself if you ever find yourself around that area.

Once you skip and verify a few and return back to the first listing that you verified, it's time to move to a new area or surrounding area, but ensure that you don't overlap with the ones you already have done!

 

Can you give examples of which ones to verify or skip?

 

Of course. This post wouldn't be meaningful if I didn't have that option to assist you. I do recommend that you collaborate with the rest of your fellow local guides around your area, but I shall compile a whole bunch of cases you can read below, and the action I myself would have taken, so here goes.

 

Verifications to accept/complete

 

Spoiler
Name
COLES EXPRESS GEELONG to Coles Express
Horseland Geelong to Horseland
Australia Post - Lightning Ridge LPO to Australia Post
Palefore Park, Temora, NSW, Australia to Palefore Park
McDonald's Temora to McDonald's
nab branch to NAB
CBA ATM to Commonwealth Bank
7-Eleven (Open 24 Hours) to 7-Eleven
H&R Block Tax Accountants - Mt Druitt to H&R Block
ANZ Branch Swan Hill to ANZ
Parry and Sons Accounting to Parry & Sons Accounting (check their website or photos for representation, otherwise skip)
However if the edit isn't exactly the best as you hope for, if in doubt leave out.

Category
CBA ATM: Bank to ATM
Australia Post: Mailing Service to Post Office
Coles Express: Convenience stores organization or Petrol Station to Convenience Store
Kam's Chinese Restaurant: Restaurant to Chinese Restaurant
Maprang Thai Restaurant: Restaurant to Thai Restaurant
678 Korean BBQ Restaurant: Restaurant to Korean Barbecue Restaurant

Website
Check the website to see if it is a viable, official link. Facebook pages are sometimes okay, but not recommend for unclaimed listings. Some are also outright incorrect.
Report and/or reject those that looks like a spam website (e.g. all your .info ones, restaurantwebexperts, etc.)

 

Verifications to skip

Spoiler
Name
Nadia's Cafe to Nadia's Cafe CLOSED (We cannot check in person, although if you can view the place details and see that it's already permanently closed, reject the edit)
Henley's Bar and Cafe to 319 Coffee (May have replaced on the existing premises/building. Although if you can check that 319 Coffee already exists, reject the edit)
Mildura City Centre to Mildura travel and cruise (The website is claimed, also the category is correct, but the naming convention is poor)

Category
Bluebill Hotel: Restaurant to Hotel (in Australia, most "hotels" are actually bars and may not have accommodation)
Sittano's Bar & Restaurant: Bar to Restaurant (ambiguous representation)
Medical Centres, Clinics, Surgeons and General Practitioners are very hard to distinguish.

Website
If the website doesn't load, the address is incorrect or it looks like it's not a secure connection/domain, skip it.

Limitations of this method

Aside from only having android phones with this feature enabled in their Google Maps, this actually proves to be quite data-intensive, so this would be best to do so in a fast wi-fi, controlled environment. Also while checking websites as well, a fast stable connection would ensure that each one is sent promptly and the websites load with ease.

In addition, once too many places have been loaded and the application attempts to load more, Google Maps might crash with the notification: Maps has stopped. Thus it would be wise to ensure that you do not load too many in an area or even around the surroundings to avoid crashes, this is something that occurs to me quite frequently, probably after about 3-7 different area loads. So zoom in and direct your focus first rather than going to a massive region, as you may indirectly load verifiable items thousands of kilometres away. For example, I was verifying places in Geelong, Victoria while I ended up being asked to verify a place in Coober Pedy, South Australia.

Always remember that the feature is still indeed in beta, so of course there are always a few kinks that may need to be ironed out over time.

 

I hope you have learned a new way of making Maps a better place for everybody. Verification and fact-checking is one of the best things you can do to ensure the integrity of Google Maps and also support the suggested edits of local guides around you. Nothing feels better than having an edit you once did a few days or weeks ago finally go through.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

P.S. Edited for grammar correction and added links and further examples. Removed discretionary note for Coles Express' category.

8 comments

Accepted Solutions
Level 10
Solution

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Dear Briggs, hope all's well.

 

Yes, check the facts is awesome. Thank you for sharing how you achieve such high contribution numbers.

 

Remember, "You can fact check based on your own first-hand knowledge, Street View and the place's official website."

 

Kind regards from Osaka78

PS We were recently suggesting multiple edits in Bathurst. 🙂

View solution in original post

Level 10
Solution

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Dear Briggs, hope all's well.

 

Yes, check the facts is awesome. Thank you for sharing how you achieve such high contribution numbers.

 

Remember, "You can fact check based on your own first-hand knowledge, Street View and the place's official website."

 

Kind regards from Osaka78

PS We were recently suggesting multiple edits in Bathurst. 🙂

Level 10

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Hello Osaka, and thank you kindly for your kind words.

So you have! Well I hope you got a few notifications or so about the edits going live in Bathurst.

In terms of the road checking, I might have to see how that one works, I think it just has to do with just walking on them, sufficient lighting and parking availability. And I do a lot of walking.

 

And fair enough! The fact-checking I believe should also refer to Google's guidelines too for representing a business. Thanks for linking!

Level 8

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Hi @Briggs

 

Thank you for sharing your great tutorial. I learned a lot and shall use Check the Facts more often thanks to your suggestions.

 

I have two comments/ concerns based on what you have written in your tutorial:

 

First of all the speed and remote way of checking facts, as you describe would concern me. Making mistakes do affect your trust score. Also, when Google evaluate your contribution they look at your behavior.  Of course, I have no idea of the behavior you describe here is a red flag for Google, but acting like a super-human does make you stand out if you know what I mean?

 

Secondly, you approved the change of a Coles Express store with a wrong category to another wrong category. Rather than going for the lesser evil, I would have said the edit is wrong. As I understand it, the Cole Express store should have the grocery store category (or whatever synonym is used) and the Shell Fuell station part should have a separate listing as Gas Station. This is based on the Branding mapping rule. 

Search for it on the forum and you should find a post with Flash explaining this. If not, let me know and I shall go through my bookmarks of important connect posts.

 

 

Level 8

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Hi @Briggs,

 

I checked with Flash in this thread, and there seems to be no need for concern when making mass edits. Flash does confirm my point about Cole Express in the same thread as well.
I have no intention to do this treasure chest for easy mass edits, so, have fun with it. Keep in mind though, that if others reading this post are doing it as we speak and their edits are pending, yours would be rejected as they are duplicate edits.

Level 10

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Level 10

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Hello @JeroenM,

Thanks for supplying backed up knowledge. When I first saw when checking the facts that all the Coles Express were being changed from a 'Convenience Stores Organisation' to a 'Petrol Station', I initially wanted to make sure that it seemed to be the best fit. While we may have Caltex Woolworths as a joint-venture of petrol stations, as you pointed out there are some Shell service stations that do not have the Coles Express branding.

In addition, from the Coles Express website, they state the following:

 

What is the business relationship between Shell and Coles Express?
Shell is a fuel manufacturer and wholesaler, and Coles Express obtains its supply of quality fuel products exclusively from Shell. Coles Express operates the retail side of the business and Shell is our fuel supplier. 

Generally speaking as Coles Express is the operator of the business in its entirety and the pumps,  I believe that the primary role if users were looking for a Coles Express is to fill up on Shell fuels. Shell leases the service and property to Coles whilst retaining its signage. I can't really imagine the Coles and Shell alliance naming all their service stations as Shell Coles Express.

 

I also agree with the superhuman speed as a behavioural outlier. Of course for verifying or checking edits, I am pedantic as to ensure that if I even have the slightest of doubts for the edit, I'll skip it and move on. Considering that probably uploading 100 photos on a good jam-packed day, making upwards of about 80 edits as well as creating many things in different places might seem a bit excessive, I only started really doing this and exploring the whole of Australia (I haven't done South Australia yet) after the majority of my edits started being rejected, so I sought this as an alternative for the interim. But it's nice to know that there aren't many left to verify these days, probably 90% of them are indeed just location descriptors needing to be taken out, and a further 5% being the spam websites we reported a month ago.

Level 8

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

@Briggs

 

Reading your quote from Coles Express, we may conclude that not all Shell stations have a Cole Express store, but all Cole Express stores do have a Shell station. If you agree, then all these Coles Stores should be changed to a category that reflects the store part and for every single Coles Store, you can earn points for adding the Shell station as a separate POI. That is what the branding rule is all about.

 

In Europe, I have yet to come across a Maps listings where the branch rule was applied. However, I have never searched for them and did not have the confidence to make these kinds of advance edits 😉

Level 6

Re: Checking the Facts Tips

Thanks for the info. I’m definitely gonna try to do more facts checking (verifying).

 

Good looking!