Reporting a photo not relevant to a major landmark is not working: Vietnam Veterans Memorial

[dibert]

For months now I've reported that a photo that is not relevant for Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Looks like a grave site in Turkey.   Worse yet, its the main photo.

I'm reporting this image:

https://www.google.com/cbk?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&output=report&image_key=!1e10!2sAF1QipMJy2BkQmX...

I'm a level-6 guide and my reports for this are not working for site.  Any idea why?

[JonasKL]

Hello @dibert

Thank you so much for this feedback, I believe that your request is being worked on. Hold on

Regards

[dibert]

What do you mean by it is being worked on?  I thought most all Google Map updates are automated by a bot.

I'm just learning how all this works.   When I find a problem that Google won't accept, then someone at a higher level reports it, it seems to get fixed right away.  Is that all there is to it, to escalate to a higher level when the bot isn't smart enough (like in this case).   Kind of strange Google won't trust a guide to tell them photo is not the right location.  I reported this weeks ago.

[ParadornTonthong]

try to report again and again.

[Flash · Accepted solution]

Hello @dibert,

Please do not report it again and again, that simply creates a lot of unnecessary requests that then must each be reviewed, slowing the entire system down for everyone.

Reviewing a photo for appropriateness is not something that can be done be a bot; if that was possible then it wouldn't have been allowed to be posted in the first place.

It is your edits to the map that are reviewed first by bots.  If they cannot make the decision then they automatically queue it for human review; there is no need to request it.

As stated, you will need to wait for your request to be reviewed.  The good news is that it's not the main photo, nor even one of the top photos.  Search is customized for each user, so you are probably seeing it as such because you have clicked on the picture in the past.

[dibert]

Thank you.  Something you or someone else did fixed it.   I reported this months ago and it didn't take.  Then again 1-2 weeks ago, then I posted this and now after week and your input, it is fixed now.

At what levels does a guide need to be to have for a particular level of trust?  When I post a picture with no photos or just a few photos, or even add a new place, it often goes up in a few minutes.  That is nice and it motivates people,  But when I report problems, it seldom takes and I get no bot message or any personal contact.  That discourages people.  Level-6 seems to help a little bit, but not that much. 

[dibert]

A follow-up point and questions.    I have reported ~10 more bad photos for this location.  Most of them are someone showing or selling campers like this photo:

https://www.google.com/cbk?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&output=report&image_key=!1e10!2sAF1QipMMWewQ8o6...

Let's see how long these take to be corrected.  At least they are not the main image the the other one was.

Do Local Guides get any points or additional trust if they report stuff like this, or is it not really worth our effort?   Google seems to be more focused on the quantity of photos than the quality of photos or the detailed views, so stuff like this seems to be getting worse.   I've seen level 10 guides that have posted a slew of bad photos on one site just to get points.   I hope Google addresses the quality vs quantity problem soon.  I could easily be a higher level guide if I did the same thing, but I hope Google Maps sees this and fixes it before long.  I'd rather help people and give them a very good sense of the location than to just get points. 

[Flash]

@dibert wrote:

Thank you.  Something you or someone else did fixed it.   I reported this months ago and it didn't take.  Then again 1-2 weeks ago, then I posted this and now after week and your input, it is fixed now.

---

It would not be anything I did, it would just be the report you made that got it removed.

Errors can happen, the first report either was not understood or perhaps the photo got reposted after being removed.  The best course of action is just to report it a second time, which did work.

At what levels does a guide need to be to have for a particular level of trust?

Again, it is just edits to the map that work on trust; photos are not part of that system.

For edits it has nothing to do with being a Local Guide; as it is not required to be a Local Guide to edit the map and as someone writing a lot of reviews or posting photos is not an indicator that they understand the rules for certain edits on the map.  Instead it is your past similar edits that determine your trust for future edits.  It takes hundreds of correct edits of a similar type to gain trust.  Keep in mind too that if you are making a particular type of edit incorrectly but with factual information the reviewers often edit your edit with a "accepted" message to you, but trust is not actually granted as it was incorrect.  In those cases the reviewer makes another proper edit to add the information to the map.

There are no points for reporting bad photos.  Whether you find this worth your effort has a lot to do with whether you are doing this to create a better map for all or for badges; thus I can't answer your final question for you.

[dibert]

Thanks again.  So who reviews photo feedback as they seem to have a huge backlog?   Is this a certain Guide level or paid Google staff?  Is there a way for photographers or Guides at a certain level to apply as volunteer?

If anyone can post a photo to sell a camper on a US national monument, and even Google guides don't get points or trust for reporting it, and it takes weeks or months to fix it, the problem is going to get a lot worse.  Frankly, I'm going to stop waisting my time to report as many of these problems, but what I'd really like to see is Google Maps starting to focus on the quality of photos more than the quantity.  Quantity of photos worked very well for a while, but at some time Google should adapt the strategy to take Google Maps to the next level and keep its leadership position.

[Mr_Ian]

I feel your pain mate. The time I've spent on reporting photos that are definitely not relevant to the location only to check months later and they are still there is too large to count. You're right, we should have higher levels of trust, especially if live in the area or have had a recent visit.