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> I’d wager 99.9% of the users didn’t realize that they are effectively sending their live GPS coords to a random website when taking a photo.

I'd wager 90% of the photos on Google Maps associated with various listings don't actually know their photos are in public. I keep coming across selfies and other photos that look very personal, but somehow someone uploaded to Google Maps, the photo is next to a store or something and Google somehow linked them together, probably by EXIF.

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Google prompts you in Google Maps if you want to upload your picture to Maps.

I sometimes do that for random pictures, even like selfies, which I don't mind popping up there.

Wait... You post selfies on Google Maps? The thought never crossed my mind. What would the purpose be? Sorry I'm probably thick...

I can say for me that after my father died I posted pictures of him at some of his favorite places or from favorite trips.

Google Maps app sees that you took photo near POI and later in the day asks you in notification if you want to share it on maps.

You review the photo and go "lol, sure".

At least for me that doesn't even feel like posting due to how frictionless it is and that it's about natural discoverability (someone has to click that POI and scroll through photos to find it).

About the latter: that's why Google Maps is my favourite social medium. It's hyper-local.

For that sweet local guide score.

I remember arriving in Lisbon, leaving a favorable review for a restaurant because they were so nice to us, and Google sending me a notification that I'm now a local guide for Lisbon.

What exactly does that mean though? Is there any benefits to it? All I see is a badge/label, that's it?

There are some benefits that definitely used to exist, and maybe still exist, like early access to new features and additional Google Drive storage. But in practice today, the only real benefit is the badge.

If you accrue a high score, Google should give you a plaque like they give to Youtubers with many subscribers.

I really don't know why anyone would try hard to get that. On Chinese map app (Amap) at least you can get a ride hailing coupon, for a nice taxi discount.

I will share a thread from someone asking where was their congratulatory email that they've come to expect from Google Maps.

https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t/e-mail-from-google-cong...

Oh... I... don't know what to say about that post. How foreign? :|

Thanks for the insight!

I had a popup on my iPhone one day "You were in City Park last weekend, would you like to share those photos?". I stopped allowing google access to my photos after that. A little late though, they had apparently scraped all of my data already.

I had a similar moment a few years ago. That Google Maps pop-up was what caused me to first switch to de-googled Android, and once that turned out to be a hassle after a couple of years, switch to an iPhone without Google stuff. (On Android, Google is a location provider, so blocking their access is much harder.)

>On Android, Google is a location provider, so blocking their access is much harder.

https://grapheneos.org/features#network-location

Their approach encompasses GNSS location, too. Nothing Google required.

True. Sidenote: they are still however push notifications provider, so good luck getting rid of them completely (unless you're fine with not getting the notifications). MicroG is awesome wrt. that as you can turn it on/off as you wish, and it just works. GrapheneOS however only supports Google services in sandbox, but the notifications work sporadically IME (maybe because I keep turning them off and on... not sure). So... Pick your poison.

I don't even have G-apps on my phone. They work fine in a browser, until they don't. I was trying to use streetview yesterday and it would not open in the browser and kept trying to redirect me to the app store. So now they are deliberately borking their webapps to punish those not using native apps.

Facebook has done that for a long time. And linkedin, too.

Yeah, there are lots of pages that don't show the (google) map if you don't have google services enabled on your android phone. Not sure if this is something that could be solved on browser level though? I'm quite certain that these pages still work on iphones...

I have friends that do that and it’s intentional. Had a good time at a store or restaurant? Take a selfie and upload to Google Maps. Also take a selfie video and upload to Instagram stories. It’s a way of life that defaults to more sharing.

I suspect there used to be a flow which was far too easy to share directly to Google maps. I was browsing the map once and found a picture of a credit card in a room in a hotel. I guess the guy intended to send it to his PA or something.

Like IMG_0001 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42314547

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