The app on Thursday introduced several new features aimed at making Google Maps more interactive, including one that makes it easier for users to share photos of places they visit.
Efforts to increase engagement with Google Maps appear to be working: the company said on Thursday that it now has 150 million “Local Guides” – users who regularly contribute reviews, photos and information on Maps – on the platform. In 2020, Local Guides added more than 8 million locations to the app.
“With all the changes our world has experienced over the past year, people are relying more than ever on high quality, up-to-date information about the places around them – such as when a restaurant nearby is open or when a local grocery store has updated hours , “Google said in a statement, adding that it would like to” make it easy for anyone with a Google Account to contribute their local knowledge. “
Among the new features announced Thursday are ‘photo updates’, which will help people get a better and more up-to-date feel of places they are thinking of; for example, they will be able to see if setting up a restaurant outside is in the shadows. As it rolls out in the coming weeks, people can go to the new “Updates” page when they look at a place in the app, take a quick photo to add a caption and write, without leaving a full having to give rating or rating.
Google Maps also makes it easier to report road changes in the app, and adds an “Edit the Map” option that allows users to correct bugs, including deleting missing roads, renaming streets, or deleting incorrect roads. The company says it will have contributed to veterinarians before it was published.
To get more people to use these interactive features, Google Maps is launching a ‘Local Love Challenge’, which encourages Android users to contribute photos, reviews and information to the app with the goal of making 100,000 location lists in the next month to update.