Earlier this month, Google provided the first demo of AR navigation in Maps for Android and announced that Local Guides will be the first users to gain access. Google this week is now reaching out to Local Guides on both Android and iOS.
Google offers up quite a lot of free perks to its Local Guides users, and that’s because they help so much with improving Maps. For the holidays, Google appears to be sending out a pair of nifty socks to some Local Guides.
If you were planning to hit the movies this weekend, say for some Avengers goodness, Google has partnered up with Atom Tickets to give its local guides a special treat – $5 off any ticket!
About a year ago Google debuted the ability to create custom lists in Google Maps, and a couple months after that, it opened up to more users. Strangely, though, the functionality was only available on mobile devices. Now, though, that’s changed as lists have finally made their debut on the desktop.
Google Maps might seem like a basic turn-by-turn navigation system to some people, but as we know, the service goes much deeper than that. One of Maps’ best features is providing quick and accurate info on businesses/institutions in your area, and now, Google is making a push for getting more wheelchair accessibility information added to these establishments all across the world.
Google today announced an update to its Local Guides program — perhaps the biggest one in a while. Starting today, Local Guides can reach up to level 10, whereas previously the “game” was capped at level 5. That means those who previously maxed out their points have reason to start updating Google Maps data again…
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…
Earlier this year, Google Maps started testing out a new, and very useful feature called lists. The functionality has been limited to only certain levels of Local Guides users, but now Google is finally expanding the program.
As noted at Google’s support website, the different levels of the Local Guides program come with many different benefits. Up to today, those reaching the fourth level would qualify for 1TB of Google Drive storage for one year. Unfortunately, Google is now toning down that offer to just 100GB so that it can “continue giving Drive storage to all Level 4 qualified Local Guides.”
Google has just opened up a new contest for Google Maps Local Guides users, allowing them the chance to win a free, custom Nexus Live Case for their Nexus 6P or 5X. To enter all users need to do is head over to Google Maps, either on the desktop or mobile, and leave high quality reviews of places and business they’ve recently been to.
Google announced today that it’s expanding the Local Guides feature it has for Google Maps that aims to act as a community-driven virtual guide for points of interest with an integrated rewards program (which it could position as a Yelp competitor).
Among the biggest update for the expansion is new rewards for users, allowing access to upgraded Google Drive storage, early access to Google products and features, and more.
Google detailed the new rewards, which include the ability for users to earn a free 1 TB upgrade of Drive storage by accumulating a certain number of points. The top reward will make users eligible to attend Google’s inaugural summit in 2016: “… you’ll be able to meet other top Guides from around the world, explore the Google campus, and get the latest info about Google Maps. Look out for details early next year.”
Here’s a look at the new rewards:
Level 1 (0 – 4 points): Enter exclusive contests (think new Google devices!) in select countries.
Level 2 (5 – 49 points): Get early access to new Google products and features.
Level 3 (50 – 199 points): Show up in the Google Maps app with your official Local Guides badge.
Level 4 (200 – 499 points): Receive a free 1 TB upgrade of your Drive storage, allowing you to keep all the stories, photos, and videos from your travels in one safe place.
Level 5 (500+ points): The very top Local Guides will become eligible to apply to attend our inaugural summit in 2016, where you’ll be able to meet other top Guides from around the world, explore the Google campus, and get the latest info about Google Maps. Look out for details early next year.
Users can earn points by using the feature in Google Maps to do things like leaving a review, answering questions, uploading photos, and submitting fixes.
The expansion also includes an update that makes it easier for contributors to view and track local guides they’ve submitted.
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Google today has started rolling out an update to its Maps app on Android that bumps it to version 9.4. Most notably, the update adds integration with Google’s new Local Guides service, which it originally introduced back in January. Previously called City Experts, Local Guides is the company’s efforts to get users to review local businesses and share them with others.
Google has today relaunched its review program previously called City Experts as Local Guides, and hopes to engage the community and get more people involved through what looks to be some much more friendly branding and fun new features. While Google previously touted the “exclusive benefits” you could receive through the program and required “50 high-quality reviews” for entry, the new program instead suggests that you “help others and support businesses” and encourages you to “be yourself.”
