Google Maps on the web adds notifications for Local Guides users

With YouTube now providing alerts through the browser for new videos from subscriptions, Google Maps is the latest service to gain notifications on the web. The option is seemingly only appearing for members of the Local Guides program for now, but hopefully will expand to other users in the future…

Local Guides is a Google community program that rewards users for writing reviews, posting photos, and providing details about a location. Benefits of participating in the gamified program include free Drive storage, early access to products, and other exclusive events.

For now, the new notifications feature is only appearing for Google accounts that are a part of Local Guides and is aimed at making it easier for them to contribute data. The “Reviews and photos” alert provides “reminders to review and share photos for places you’ve visited.”

As you can see below, heading to Google Maps when signed in pops up a new system alert to allow notifications. Agreeing to them will slide up a toast from the bottom confirming that they are now enabled. Accessible from the navigation drawer, a new notifications menu controls which alerts you receive.

Hopefully, future notifications will be for more useful things, like traffic alerts. This is not the first Local Guides-specific functionality to come to Google Maps — earlier this month, more members gained access to a new lists feature.