What Qualifies a Place to be Mapped as a Tourist Attraction?

[Pea]

The category Tourist Attraction seems to be used by some Local Guides as a catch all when they can't find anything else suitable. Likewise for several other categories, Scenic Spot, Monument, Historical Landmark, possibly also Historical Place, Vista Point. Often LGs are only adding the listing to the map so they have a POI to hang their photos off and it sometimes appears these places should not be mapped at all (unless on a custom map).

Since the Local Guide Help pages give no guidance on the matter, would it be possible for a Google Mod (or ex MM TC etc) to write a brief explanation outlining the basic requirements for Tourist Attractions etc to qualify for a listing on the base map? 

[LucioV]

Nice question, thanks @Pea!

[Cooker3]

Hmmn interesting question.

As someone who is a tourist most of time I would look at it like this. If this was in a different country would you be willing to visit this place/landmark if travelling.

[GusMoreira]

Hi @Pea,

Very good question! As a general guidelines, you should always select the category that best represent the place

Categories on Google Maps are very fluid and often have co-relations to other categories. For example, if a someone searches for "Tourist Attraction in Anaheim, California" we will likely show Points of Interest related to Tourist attractions such as Malls, Parks, Theme Parks, Monuments, etc...

[Pea]

Thanks for the reply @GusMoreira but I was hoping for a bit more specific guidance to help LGs to decide if something should be mapped of not.

Let me ask from a slightly different angle using one of the other categories I mentioned, Scenic Spot, as the basis. Imagine you were walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon, you could stop at pretty much any point and say "Wow, what a view, this is a scenic spot!" But would that location qualify to be mapped as a 'Scenic Spot'? Surely there must be some qualifying factors otherwise you could have thousands of Scenic Spot POIs all along the route of any mountain path or pretty river bank.

Likewise with Tourist Attraction, is there a qualifying threshold? Otherwise almost everything can be one, take a look at https://goo.gl/maps/vHGp6GCWNj82 almost every feature in these gardens has been listed as an individual POI

[Csaba]

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@Pea wrote:

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Likewise with Tourist Attraction, is there a qualifying threshold? Otherwise almost everything can be one, take a look at https://goo.gl/maps/vHGp6GCWNj82 almost every feature in these gardens has been listed as an individual POI

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I think all boils down to the thresholds or borderlines. That Botanical Garden is indeed extreme - but then if Niagara Falls is a tourist attraction (and I do believe it should be - BTW it's categorized as a Waterfall which is now not possible in Maps), should there also be separate POI's for the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls?

In case of the botanical garden, indeed a solution would be to create a custom map and encourage visitors to download it when visiting (or even better: a dedicated App which could offer much more than just a list of POI's). For the Falls, I have no idea at the moment - I have just visited the place on the maps to have an example when I realized there are three, separate POI's for it (and who knows how many more that I did not notice?). 

But then if Niagara Falls deserves to be on the maps, do other, smaller falls too? Like we have in our (small) mountains called "Agnes Cataract" (has no POI on the map but near this one which is categorized as a "Truck shop" - obviously wrongly so it will need some edits but due to the lack of other, better categories at the moment, it will also just fall into the generic "Tourist Attraction" I am afraid). I mean "small country, small cataracts" but they are as important for us as the Niagara Falls for North America. People, (tourists, hikers) indeed go there and although hiking trails are not yet properly mapped on Google Maps (and there are much better applications for them), what is the borderline?

[Pea]

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@petocsaba wrote:

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In case of the botanical garden, indeed a solution would be to create a custom map and encourage visitors to download it when visiting

Yes thanks Csaba, that's what I would tell any LG who asked for advice. But that was the whole point of this thread - I am not looking for a discussion, I'm asking a Google Mod etc to put that sort of thing in writing so we have a reference point for the categories I mentioned because there are no guidelines to reduce potentially unmappable features (worse now that the old MapMaker rules have been taken down)

[Flash]

Philip, I've been working on a post to answer this question for you, but have had a lot of other things happening the past two days.  Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow.

[GusMoreira]

In summary we want to have all relevant, legal, and public places mapped so everyone can find useful information about a businesses or locations of interest they care about.

Whenever you add a place to Google Maps, always think on these questions

• Does this place already exist?
• If not, Is this place relevant to other users?
• Would the information I'm adding and the extra icon on the map be useful for other people?

If all the answers are yes, then you should add it to Google Maps.

There's no black and white rule that we can apply to the entire world, so my best answer would be to use your best judgment. In the "Scenic Spot" category for example, I'd only add a POI if the specific location is known for its particularly nice landscape. For the Niagara Falls, as it's a collections of waterfalls with different proper names and the information is useful I would also add it.

[LucioV]

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@GusM wrote:

In summary we want to have all relevant, legal, and public places mapped so everyone can find useful information about a businesses or locations of interest they care about.

Whenever you add a place to Google Maps, always think on these questions

• Does this place already exist?
• If not, Is this place relevant to other users?
• Would the information I'm adding and the extra icon on the map be useful for other people?

If all the answers are yes, then you should add it to Google Maps.

There's no black and white rule that we can apply to the entire world, so my best answer would be to use your best judgment. In the "Scenic Spot" category for example, I'd only add a POI if the specific location is known for its particularly nice landscape. For the Niagara Falls, as it's a collections of waterfalls with different proper names and the information is useful I would also add it.

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Thanks @GusMoreira this address a lot of questions about what should be on map and what shouldn't!