Google Maps Local Guides

This group is for people to meet and share their knowledge and experiences of being local guides on Google Maps, hopefully share some cool spots they've found, and discuss any gripes/workarounds with the current platform's design. We'll be meeting at least once a month on Sundays around lunchtime at the Barbican Centre, because I need to eat and I like the vibe in the Barbican Centre. Could do other locations too if anywhere interesting is found.

I am a low level Google Maps local guide myself, only level 4. I don't really like reading or telling others about experiences through text or ratings because text and ratings are rather open to interpretation so it's hard for me to gauge what a location is actually like. I also don't think I'm the best at writing things up accurately. I like showing rather than telling so I don't feel the current platform is really designed for the way I like exploring.

Because of this, I made a very bare bones mobile app to post raw geolocated videos of places to a public reel. I was thinking of developing this further by adding features for tipping posters for content, for local guides to create both free and paid curated reels on their profiles around specific themes/types of locations, or for users to pay for personalized reels/itineraries from local guides based around requested/offered types of places.

But first I would love to hear about the experiences of other local guides. Maybe everyone is super happy with the way Google Maps works for local guides, and I'm just doing it all wrong. It would be great to actually meet some of you in person to find out!