LetsGuide Podcast

In the last few weeks quite a few interesting and/or newsworthy facts about Google Maps and the Local Guides program have popped up on my radar. So the only sensible thing to do for me is to make another News & Updates podcast episode. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com .

Everything about Google Maps and the Local Guides program is absolutely flawless. It’s all absolutely perfect. Or is it? Well, in reality, like in every aspect of life there are some imperfections of course. I have been wanting to make a podcast episode about that for a while, but always found it hard to rant about my favorite hobby. So I decided to outsource that task to AI. And I’m pretty sure t...

The Google Local Guides program is based on users of Google Maps making voluntary contributions to the map. No money is paid whatsoever for the (sometimes quite elaborate) work local guides are performing. From time to time, however, there are some small non-monetary rewards, commonly known as perks. And those are the topic of this episode. Make sure to stick around until the end, as I will share...

It’s been almost a year and a half since the previous News & Updates episode, so you can imagine that there is quite a bit to report on. There are new features in Google Maps in general, but I’ve also spotted a number of changes that are first and foremost meaningful to local guides, especially those who regularly make edits. Make sure to stay tuned until the end, as I also have some nice stor...

The year 2025 not only saw Google Maps turn 20, but also the local guides program has a special birthday to celebrate, as it by now has existed for 10 years already. Within the local guides community and on LocalGuidesConnect, the official forum, a lot has been organized for this occasion - and I would also like to contribute by making a podcast episode for this 10th anniversary of the local guide...

If you’ve never heard of Connect LIVE, you might wonder why a podcast episode about the return of Connect LIVE is needed at all. If you know what it is, on the other hand you’ll probably be extremely excited about the fact that Google decided to bring it back. Just keep listening to find out the details. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get in touch, just send an em...

One of the most popular episodes of the LetsGuide Podcast is episode 10, titled “Level 5 in a Day”, where I explain how it is possible - in a completely legitimate way - to score 500 points (the amount needed for level 5) in a single day. Reaching level 10, however, requires 100.000 points, so you would have to spend almost 7 months (200 days scoring 500 points every single day) to reach that goal...

In the past few months quite a bit of exciting new things have popped up, both on Google Maps and in the local guides program. So what else could I do but put together a brand new “News & Updates” episode? And as a bonus we have some exciting details about the upcoming EuroMeetup 2024 in Manchester. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get in touch, just send an ema...

In February 2019, the first episode of the LetsGuide Podcast was released. That is now 5 years ago, and to celebrate this milestone, I decided to make a special episode - one where the content is created by the listeners. So, a while ago I reached out to the audience in several ways asking to submit audio clips with answers to 4 questions. And this is where you now get to hear the result, with con...

Okay, not only is the Google Maps team continuously releasing new features, I’m now also receiving an increasing amount of messages from fellow local guides and podcast listeners about novelties they have noticed. So, it is high time for another news & updates episode. Do stick around until the end, as I’m also covering a few news items that I have not shared anywhere yet. Check out the showno...

Sometimes you come across special projects using Google Maps as their main tool. Perhaps you might recall episode 12 about EdPins, a project focusing on schools. In this episode we look at a project that aims to add water taps, places where you can refill your water bottle, to Google Maps. And you will also find out how local guides can help in getting this ambitious project realized. Check out th...

In episode 35 we covered the basics about adding roads, but since then a lot has been going on in exactly that domain, so here’s another episode with additional info on adding roads, which also includes official answers from the Google team to a number of questions I was able to submit to them. And you’ll certainly want to stick around until the end of the episode, as there’s a section with some e...

It has only been 3 months or so since the previous ‘News & Updates’ episode, but still I have already come across enough topics to fill another one. So here we go again: an overview of the interesting and/or newsworthy things related to Google Maps and the local guides program that I have encountered in the past few months. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get i...

The very first episode of the LetsGuide Podcast dates back to February 2019 - more than 4 years ago. It was called “The basics”, as it explained in detail what it means to be a local guide. For a while now, I have been wanting to make an update of it, but I didn’t like the idea of putting a lot of work into that. So the solution I came up with is to simply ask ChatGPT to write it - and that’s exac...

It’s been a while since we had a News & Updates episode, and obviously, the Google Maps team has not been sitting around idly all that time - which means it’s high time to check out again what new features have been introduced (or spotted as preview) in Google Maps and what’s new in the local guides community. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get in touch, just...

There is a lot of information on Google Maps - an overwhelming amount in fact. If you zoom in or out, other types of information will be shown to you: e.g. city or even country names if you’re zoomed out, and individual street or place names when you’re zooming in. Other types of information can also be displayed when you have specific needs, such as traffic information when you are driving. All o...

Being an active local guide is to some extent a numbers game. There are the points you earn when you contribute to Google Maps, the levels you reach by getting those points and the counters for the different types of contributions (how many reviews you wrote, how many questions you have answered, etc.), but the most impressive number is beyond any doubt the counter of the views for the pictures yo...

One of the consequences of publishing podcast episodes less frequently, is that I will need to do a “News & Updates” episode every couple of episodes, I guess - especially if the Google Maps team keeps bringing out new features at the current pace. But I have understood from the feedback that most of the audience likes these episodes, so here we go again: more news and updates about Google Map...

Google provides a dedicated forum for Local Guides to get in touch with one another and share their experiences. That is - as you will probably know - Local Guides Connect. On that platform the moderation is handled on the one hand by some Google employees, the Google Moderators, and on the other hand by selected Local Guides, the Connect Moderators. In this episode we’ll have a closer look at tho...

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is definitely one of the most used buzzwords in recent years. And Google is definitely a major contributor in that field. But when it comes to using Google Maps and being a Local Guide, some of the things we see pop up or get proposed by the algorithms don’t seem to be intelligent at all. In this episode we will cover some specific examples of what I would rather call...

There are a bunch of novelties again, both about Google Maps and the Local Guides program, so it’s time for another News & Updates episode. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com . To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com .

When you click on the profile picture of a local guide in Google Maps, a screen pops up listing the number of contributions (s)he has made, split up by type of contribution. In most cases there are high numbers for Photos and Answers, sometimes also for Reviews. But the contribution type where you are most likely to see a 0 is ‘Roads Added’. Perhaps all the roads have already been added? Or perhap...

The Local Guides program in Google Maps is 100% based on volunteer work. There is no payment for the contributions we all make on Maps. Still the topic Local Guides and money is at times heavily debated, so in this episode I want to answer some questions relating to this topic, such as: What exactly is not allowed? And are there nevertheless ways to earn money with Google Maps? (Spoiler: yes, ther...

Not everything you see on Google Maps belongs there. Quite a few entries are in fact spam, often added on purpose for malicious or at least deceptive reasons. In this episode I discuss that topic with Jason Brown, an absolute specialist in fighting such spam entries. Jason is a Platinum Google My Business (GMB) Product Expert. He’s also a Local SEO specialist and - the main reason why we have him...

Look, this Google Maps team is seriously messing up my planning. Typically I record one episode per month on a specific topic related to the Local Guides program, and I then add a short section at the end where I talk about new features. But they keep releasing so much new stuff and revealing a seemingly endless list of interesting facts, that I am now forced to make a dedicated episode to tell yo...