Google Local Guides Summit

- Dr. Shaunak Das

Local Guides is a global community of explorers sharing their discoveries on Google Maps. Help others find the best spots in town, make new friends, and unlock exclusive benefits along the way. Google started this programme in November 2015 and since its beginning more than 5 million people in 235 countries have answered questions and made edits on Google maps so far. Last year, Google hosted the inaugural Local Guides Summit in San Francisco as a part of which they invited the top Level 5 Local Guides from around the world for two days of talks, workshops, and local explorations. Interestingly, the 75 people who attended their inaugural summit at San Francisco, last year have made over 330,000 contributions including 5,000 entirely new places added on maps. Before we go into the details of the summit, let us find out more about the programme first.

Local Guides Programme

Aim: Basically the aim is to make Google maps up to dated as well as corrected everywhere in the world so that people can use Google maps daily like their own compass.

How to contribute: Anyone having Google profile can join this programme. You just need an Android or iOS phone with Google Maps. On the app, someone can make contributions in many ways, like adding a place, making corrections or answer some random questions (like ‘is the wifireally free?’ ‘does it actually open at 7 am?’ asked by Google. Every separate contribution counts and Google will give you 1 point for each one made 

Programme benefits