r/LocalGuides

I just looked up a favorite coffee bean roaster. I would like to buy from them direct. They have two locations on their website. I clicked on both and see the addresses. If this storefront owner changed that web page to include 'next to' it would really help anyone to visualize where they are without having to open up maps, get directions, or another search. If it read, 'next to Canadian Tire', or 'same block as Canadian Tire', or 'between Canadian Tire and Home Depot', it would fast track the reader. I think this is a great idea for storefront owners and don't really understand why more websites don't include these landmark details.

At some point I started leaving business reviews from my university Google account which I have had for about a decade. Now I am having trouble logging into my account because they've removed my ability to verify with 2-factor authentication. I think I can still log in if I can find an old device that has the information I need (it's dead and needs to be charged but I saved it in case this exact scenario occurred). Is it possible to transfer my local guide status, points, reviews, and everything to my personal Google account? If so, how do I do that? I wish I could just contact a live human being at Google...

Bonus question: Does it even matter? What's the actual point of being a local guide? I forget what my level was but it was high enough for me to feel good for some reason.

🗺️ While visiting Pride Berlin, I learned how utterly pointless Google Maps Reviews in Germany are.

⭐ Any place can simply report negative reviews for defamation or claim the person was never there and have it removed.

Users can then appeal & risk a lawsuit.

When a review is removed the removed count on Google Maps goes up (🖼️ 1)

However that count is reset after 365 days and also only goes to 250! (🖼️ 2)

Therefore companies can simply mass report negative reviews to improve their rating.

https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/16997273

https://preview.redd.it/whmztdjipyjh1.jpg?width=367&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3934e360ae42dcda501cdcc6a90328f1d87a238a

https://preview.redd.it/qc1t8f8jpyjh1.jpg?width=729&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b720dc2b1d416a62729a70b07fb0350022f13ea

So many vulnerable people are relying on Google Maps reviews & ratings to tell them where it is save to go.

Some places have only 1000-2000 reviews but >250 reviews removed in the past 365 days!

Like how bad must the situation there be?!

Absolute shame.

I've been in that moment. You're 30 seconds from a situation and Google Maps shows you a restroom that hasn't been reviewed in 4 years.

So I built Got to Go Potty - a real-time restroom and gas station finder that pulls live location data and lets people rate cleanliness, safety, wheelchair access, and baby changing stations after each visit.

The ratings aren't pulled from some database. They're left by people who were just there, in the same desperate spot you're in right now.

What surprised me: the first users to leave reviews weren't tech people. They were parents with toddlers. Road trippers. People with IBD who've turned restroom-hunting into a survival skill.

That's the community I'm trying to build - people who leave a 30-second review so the next stranger doesn't have to gamble.

No login required to search. Completely free.

Curious if anyone here has actually had a bad experience using Google Maps or Apple Maps to find a restroom in an urgent situation - and what you wished you'd had instead.

reviewed a place based on staff conduct. turns out there were similar complaints and reviews of the places based on this person. Google stopped all reviews, and took down multiple genuine reviews ( not just based on feelings but concrete issues with the place ).

you can’t even appeal because they just turn off new reviews.

google are literally curating / censoring valid reviews without any sort of consequence.

anyone have similar experiences?

I always watch food vlogs, save nothing, then completely blank on the places when I'm actually hungry and out. So I've been building a little tool for myself that reads a YouTube food video and pins the restaurants to a map with the dish and location.

Full honesty so I'm not breaking any rules: the tool uses AI to pull the info, and it's my own project, still rough and free while I test it. Not trying to advertise, I mostly want to know if this is useful to other people who watch these videos or if it's just me.

Ran it on a Manila street food video and it pulled the names of the restaurants that were mentioned.

Question for the group: when you watch a food vlog and see a place you want to try, how do you actually remember it later? Screenshot? Notes app? Or do you just lose it like I did? Genuinely curious if the forgetting thing is common or if I'm the only one.

Hey everyone! In the last 5 years of listing my practice on Google Maps, Google has suspended the profile 3 times now. I'm pretty sure I am being maliciously reported by another local business that has been terrorizing maps listings with multiple locations/bot reviews (most lmts have an average of maybe 50 total reviews, this company - maybe 5 listings now - anywhere between 100-400 on each listing.) and with this 5, if you can imagine, I've successfully had 2 removed. So that's down from 7!!!

I've reported them. Nothing. I've tweeted Google. Nothing. I've even hired them - untrained and unlicensed. Nothing.

Well, not nothing. My page keeps getting removed. I'm sick of it. Who has stopped giving a flying F about Google Maps reviews for visibility? I'm sick of never being able to speak to a human about this situation.

So frustrated. Thanks for letting me vent!

Sinds een aantal dagen heb ik een probleem met Google Maps op mijn iPhone.
Wanneer ik in Google Maps naar mijn profiel/reviews ga en vervolgens al mijn reviews wil laden, krijg ik telkens de melding ‘Kan server niet bereiken’.
Het vreemde is dat de rest van Google Maps gewoon goed werkt. Wanneer ik via de browser/webversie van Google Maps inlog met hetzelfde Google-account, kan ik al mijn reviews wél gewoon bekijken. Ik merk echter dat mijn views blijven steken op hetzelfde aantal.

Inmiddels heb ik het volgende geprobeerd:
- Google Maps bijgewerkt naar de nieuwste versie
- iPhone opnieuw opgestart
- Applicatiegegevens/cache van Google Maps gewist
Google Maps volledig verwijderd
iPhone daarna opnieuw opgestart
Google Maps opnieuw geïnstalleerd en opnieuw ingelogd

Helaas heeft niets hiervan geholpen.

Zijn er meer mensen die dit probleem momenteel hebben? En heeft iemand inmiddels een werkende oplossing gevonden?