Local Guides
| File:Local Guides logo.png | |
| Founded | January 15, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Type | Online volunteer community |
| Purpose | Improving Google Maps through user contributions |
| Owner | |
| Website | maps |
Google Local Guides (commonly known as Local Guides) is a global volunteer community program operated by Google that encourages users to contribute information to Google Maps.[1]
Participants improve the accuracy, completeness, and usefulness of Google Maps by writing reviews, uploading photos and videos, adding or editing place information, answering questions, verifying facts, and suggesting edits.[2] Contributors earn points, progress through levels (1–10), and receive digital badges based on their activity.
The program forms part of Google's crowdsourcing strategy to maintain and expand high-quality, up-to-date local information in Google Maps.[3]
History
Google officially launched the Local Guides program on January 15, 2015,[1] building on earlier community mapping efforts such as Google Map Maker (discontinued in 2017) and the City Experts program.
In 2016, Google launched Local Guides Connect, an official discussion forum where members share tips, organize meetups, report issues, and receive direct communication from Google product teams.[4]
The program has continued to evolve, with periodic updates to point values, badge types, perks, and contribution guidelines.[3]
Levels and points system
Contributors earn points for different types of contributions. Points determine a user's level (1 to 10). The current point structure (as of 2025–2026) includes:
- 1 point – rating a place
- 5 points – uploading a photo
- 7 points – uploading a 360° photo or video
- 10 points – writing a review (more points for longer, high-quality reviews)
- 15 points – adding a new place
- 5–15+ points – editing place information / answering questions / fact-checking
Level thresholds:[2]
| Level | Points required |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 15 |
| 3 | 75 |
| 4 | 250 |
| 5 | 500 |
| 6 | 1,500 |
| 7 | 5,000 |
| 8 | 15,000 |
| 9 | 50,000 |
| 10 | 100,000 |
Higher levels unlock additional badges and occasional exclusive perks (early feature access, event invitations, limited-edition merchandise, etc.).
Badges
Special badges are awarded for sustained activity in specific contribution types, for example:
- Photographer
- Reviewer
- Trailblazer (adding new places)
- Fact Finder
- Video Star
- 5-Star Contributor (high-quality consistent contributions)
From Level 4 onward, a public Local Guides badge appears next to the user's name on Google Maps profiles and reviews.[2]
Activities
Local Guides can contribute in several ways:
- Writing reviews and ratings
- Uploading photos and videos (including 360° content)
- Adding missing places
- Editing incorrect or incomplete place information
- Answering the "Questions" section
- Verifying / suggesting edits to business attributes
- Recording Street View imagery (via "Street View Trusted" program integration)
Community
The main community hub is the Local Guides Connect forum.[4] Members also organize independent local meetups, photo walks, mapping parties, and accessibility mapping events in many cities worldwide.
Google has periodically hosted official events such as the Local Guides Summit and Connect Live gatherings (mostly 2017–2019; scaled back after the COVID-19 pandemic).
Impact and reception
The Local Guides program is frequently cited in academic literature as a large-scale example of volunteered geographic information (VGI) and successful gamified crowdsourcing.[5]
Businesses, especially small and local ones, often benefit significantly from fresh photos, reviews, and updated information provided by Local Guides.[6]
Criticism
Some long-term contributors have criticised inconsistent moderation decisions, delayed responses to appeals, removal of legitimate contributions without clear explanation, and perceived favouritism in badge/perk distribution.[3]
There are also recurring discussions about whether the gamification system sometimes incentivises quantity over quality, leading to low-effort or duplicate content.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Local Guides – Help make Google Maps better". Google. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Local Guides points, levels & badging". Google. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Greg Sterling (2024-11-13). "Google's Local Guide program: Wins, woes and what's next?". Search Engine Land. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Local Guides Connect". Google. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
- ↑ See, Christopher; Mooney, Peter; Antoniou, Vyron (2020). "Volunteered Geographic Information in the context of Google Maps". GI_Forum. 8 (1): 68–79. doi:10.1553/giscience2020_01_s68.
- ↑ "Google Local Guides and Local SEO". Uberall. 2024-03-14. Retrieved 2026-01-28.
External links
This article "Local Guides" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Local Guides. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
