By Max Kaplan and Alex Vallis, Local Guides Team, Google
What kind are you?
Satellites are famously effective for mapping, but they don’t take photos of must-have breakfast sandwiches, update hours of operation or tell families when places are wheelchair accessible. That’s Local Guides’ territory. Local Guides are people who share information on Google Maps to help others discover where to go. There are more than 60 million of them in our global community, with the most prolific contributors hailing from the United States, India and Brazil. They guide worldwide users each day, rack up millions of views, support small businesses, and literally put important, sometimes vital, information on the map for others to use.
Anyone can become a Local Guide — and once you do, you’ll become part of a dynamic community. Each contributor is different, with specific passions and ways of sharing.
Here are 7 inspiring specialists we’ve spotted, with tips on how to do what they do.
Local Guides love taking photos — in fact, they shared more than 300 million of them on Google Maps last year! If you’re a visualist, it’s your favourite way to contribute.
Loves: Seeking photogenic spots, finding the beauty in everyday places, making the most of the golden hour.
Tip: You can share your shots of places right from Google Photos. Just tap the share icon on Android and select Add to Maps. Then select or update the location before you post it.
In many parts of the world, essential information like where to find an ATM or a clinic may be hard to come by. Fact hunters uncover these details to share with others on Google Maps.
Loves: Accurate listings on Google Maps, adding missing information for small businesses, moving location pins so that people can find places.
Tip: On Google Maps for mobile, go to Your contributions in the menu and tap Uncover missing info to see which places need your expertise.
Related: Location Powered Decisions
If a friend has ever asked you for the hottest new restaurant in town, you might be a trailblazer. These Local Guides have the pulse of their cities and love being the first to try a new place.
Loves: Adding the first review or photo to a place, putting unlisted places on the map.
Tip: Check out restaurants and local shops opening this year so you can add their first photos and get those views.
If a review has ever helped you choose whether to stay by the sea or by the bay, you can thank a sage. No matter where they go, these Local Guides write about all the inside tips, from the best exhibits to visit, to the best instructors at a fitness studio.
Loves: Dropping knowledge and tips in reviews, answering yes/no questions about places that pop up on your screen, responding to others via the new Questions & answers feature that shows up on Google Maps for Android.
Tip: Turn on your Location History to easily review all the places you’ve been, and make lists of your favourites.
Equipped with plenty of battery packs, this Local Guide helps you see a place from every angle with 360 degree photos and video contributions like visual tours and on-camera reviews.
Loves: Adding 360 degree photos and videos of places, going to great lengths for the perfect shot.
Tip: If you take a video on your phone, you can add up to 30 seconds of it to a place the same way you’d add a photo to a place on Google Maps.
This Local Guide’s contributions go beyond Google Maps. From hosting meet-ups with other community members to chiming in on Connect (the forum for Local Guides), the connector is a friendly face for newbies and gurus alike.
Loves: Hosting meet-ups, making lists about places to go and sharing them with friends, liking other people’s reviews.
Tip: Find out if a Local Guides meet-up is happening near you.
Local Guides champion many causes, from helping small businesses, to making it easier for wheelchair users to get around. The advocate keeps a cause top-of-mind while they share information, like whether a place has a wheelchair ramp or not.
Loves: Doing good in the world for locals and visitors alike — such as using this handy accessibility guide for sharing helpful information and watching Local Heroes videos on Local Guides’ YouTube channel.
Tip: When you mark something as wheelchair-accessible, it helps families with strollers too.
Which kind of Local Guide are you? However you want to contribute, check out your Local Guides’ statuses and places that need your knowledge by visiting Your contributions in the Google Maps menu. The more you share, the higher levels you reach as you earn points for each review, photo, and bit of information you add on Google Maps.
Article first appeared on the Google Blog.
Lava is an authorised Cloud Partner of Google and is a reseller of G Suite (previously known as Google Apps, Google Maps for Work, and Google Cloud Platform) in Malaysia. With more than a decade of experience in the industry, we’re proud to say we’re one of the leading cloud consultants and service providers in the Asia Pacific region.