Top 100 Google Maps Local Guides Star 360 Spheres (March 2024)

[AdamGT]

2024   Jan  Feb

Introduction

This post aims to showcase the best 360 spheres contributed on Maps by Connect Local Guides and when it comes to the "best", we mean those having the most views. For convenience, we call these star 360 spheres.

Join in, Share and Learn

If you have contributed 360 spheres on Maps, then you can join in and share and learn. It's simple to do. Just hit this link and register or add a comment in this post and someone will jump in to help you.

By sharing our contributions and achievements we can learn a lot about how to improve and achieve even better outcomes in terms of the impact that our Maps contributions have on our communities. We have been doing this successfully with photos for the past few years and more recently we started doing this with video.  Now we can do the same with 360 Spheres. Together we can!

If you're new here then you may not be aware that this post forms part of a series of leaderboard posts each covering different aspects of the contributions of Local Guides. To see an index to these leaderboard posts and all posts associated with them, simply hit this link.

[AdamGT]

How to Read the Star 360 Spheres leaderboards (March 2024)

Briefly, this is what you need to know about the leaderboards in this post. For more details see the Leaderboard documentation and the Leaderboard System's online context-sensitive help information.

1. The leaderboards in this post present details about the star 360 spheres of participating Local Guides from all over the world.  If you have contributed 360 spheres on Maps then you will also have a star, it's your 360 sphere that has the most views.
2. As well as an overall leaderboard, in time you will see leaderboards for different Local Guide levels which provide you with direct comparisons of your star 360 spheres' performance with those of your peers. Finally, there's a leaderboard ranking the top 100 star spheres by average star views per day which gives an indication on how good your star 360 sphere is. To be included in this leaderboard, you must have updated your star spheres' views in the period since the date of the last average star 360 spheres per day leaderboard as posted here on Connect last month.
3. The average star views per day is calculated by dividing the star views by the life of the star 360 sphere expressed in days. The life of the star 360 sphere is equal to the number of days between when you first uploaded your star 360 sphere on Maps and the date that you last updated its star views and thus, will be different for each participating Local Guide. Therefore, for accuracy of the information it is important that you enter the correct dates. When it comes to the date that you last updated the star views, point #2 above is very important.
4. As well as the star views and the date uploaded onto Maps, each listing on the leaderboards shows the Maps Category, and a description (e.g. Storefront, Building or Park) of the respective Local Guide's star 360s.
5. If the Maps Category of a star 360 sphere is shown as a link and if the name of the relevant Place of Interest was provided by the respective Local Guide, then hovering over that link will show you the name of the place and selecting that link will take you to a screenshot with details of that place as posted on the Local Guides, 2024 Star 360 sphere post, a "photo album" if you will, of star 360 spheres.
6. If the Maps Category of a star 360s is shown on a colored background then that star has been selected as one of the best that meets the formatting requirements as specified in the Local Guides, 2024 Star 360 Spheres album post. Select that star's category and see why it has been rated as one of the best and read more about that star on the "360s album" post.
7. Preceding some of the leaderboards, you may see a number of featured star 360s. If so, these are a selection from those that best meet the requirements as detailed in the Star 360s album post.
8. Where shown, [ ] around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this is the first time that the Local Guide has participated on the Top 100 Local Guides leaderboards.
9. Where shown, ( ) around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this Local Guide levelled up/down onto this leaderboard.
10. An asterisk (*) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Connect Moderator.
11. Double asterisks (**) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Googler.
12. Hovering over a Local Guide's username will display the integration number that integrates that Local Guide's details on the Leaderboards System and Connect; the umbilical chord if you will between the two disparate systems.
13. Selecting a Connect Username will take you to that Local Guide's Connect Profile.
14. A superscript following a Local Guide's username and the star views value shown on a background color indicates that some of that Local Guide's data has been set to private. The Leaderboards System uses 8 different superscripts to indicate the varying states of a Local Guide's profile however only 3 superscripts will likely ever be shown on the Leaderboards. In all the remaining 5 cases the Local Guides have been deleted from participation. On the Star Photo Views Leaderboards you will only ever see the following superscripts used:
    [1] indicates that the number of photos and photo views values are private. 
    [3] indicates that both the number of photos and photo views values and the number of reviews and ratings values are private.
15. A ? or the words "Not set" in a cell indicates that the respective value cannot be determined or hasn't been provided by or for the respective Local Guide.
16. The data for the leaderboards in this post was read at 3:30 PM on April 2, 2024 (UTC).
17. Local Guides included on the leaderboards must check their entries for any errors. If you should find any errors or omissions, please add the details in a comment on this post. Regarding omissions, please note point 15 above.

[AdamGT]

Featured 360 Sphere (March 2024)

Caption: @MattGatlin's Star 360 Sphere of Margaritaville Montego Bay uploaded onto Google Maps on 2017-01-16 and showing star views of 243,692 as at 2024-03-29

This featured star 360 sphere by Level 10 Local Guide, @MattGatlin was taken while he was visiting Jamaica way back in 2017 and when experimenting with photo spheres. Well done Matt on contributing in each of the different media types on Maps.

[AdamGT]

Overall Top 100 Star 360s Views Leaderboard (March 2024) 2024   Jan  Feb
No	Local Guide	Star 360ss Views	Date Uploaded	Maps Category	Description
[1]	@--GA--	2,679,649	2015-02-11	Basilica	Building
2	@davidhyno	2,303,560	2017-07-18	MUSEUM	Tourist attraction
[3]	@MaxPlusFood	2,247,279	2017-05-01	Train Station	Building
4	@LightRich *	804,298	2017-03-16	Sports Complex	Other
5	@AT_Rome	798,727	2017-05-07	Giardino	Garden
6	@JohnDDoe	543,420	2022-05-28	A cityscape	Cityscape
7	@TiffanyStockstill	508,520	2022-08-04	Places	Path or Road
8	@LudwigGermany *	500,304	2018-02-05	Historische Sehenswürdigkeit	Tourist attraction
9	@jayasimha78	451,544	2019-11-10	Movie Theater	Plaza/Piazza/Square
10	@ig_shevchenko	450,106	2020-04-15	District	Building
11	@Markus75	429,548	2014-07-01	Freibad	Beach
12	@AMIR_121	423,087	2017-02-01	museum	Tourist attraction
13	@snieckarz	263,671	2019-01-01	Recreation	Beach
14	@MattGatlin	243,692	2017-01-16	Restaurant	Storefront
15	@Anonymous	123,889	2022-11-16	Mirador	Panorama shot
16	@Kumaarsantosh	41,404	2023-09-28	Amusement Park	Storefront
17	@nigelfreeney	41,180	2019-11-01	Gym	Internal photo
18	@efcxp	10,997	2023-09-30	Beach	Beach
19	@ZUKInp	9,241	2023-01-08	Art Cafe	Building
20	@RooksieN	2,807	2023-10-09	Performing arts theater	Internal photo
21	@DibyayanC	277	2023-09-10	Manufacturer	Other
22	@AdamGT *	53	2023-11-12	Buddhist temple	Park/Playground
23	You ?	?	?	?	?

[AdamGT]

Level 10 Star 360s Views Leaderboard (March 2024) 2024   Jan  Feb
No	Local Guide	Star 360ss Views	Date Uploaded	Maps Category	Description
[1]	@--GA--	2,679,649	2015-02-11	Basilica	Building
2	@davidhyno	2,303,560	2017-07-18	MUSEUM	Tourist attraction
3	@JohnDDoe	543,420	2022-05-28	A cityscape	Cityscape
4	@jayasimha78	451,544	2019-11-10	Movie Theater	Plaza/Piazza/Square
5	@ig_shevchenko	450,106	2020-04-15	District	Building
6	@Markus75	429,548	2014-07-01	Freibad	Beach
7	@MattGatlin	243,692	2017-01-16	Restaurant	Storefront
8	@Kumaarsantosh	41,404	2023-09-28	Amusement Park	Storefront
9	@DibyayanC	277	2023-09-10	Manufacturer	Other
10	@AdamGT *	53	2023-11-12	Buddhist temple	Park/Playground
11	You ?	?	?	?	?

[AdamGT]

Level 9 Star 360s Views Leaderboard (March 2024) 2024   Jan  Feb
No	Local Guide	Star 360ss Views	Date Uploaded	Maps Category	Description
1	@AT_Rome	798,727	2017-05-07	Giardino	Garden
2	@LudwigGermany *	500,304	2018-02-05	Historische Sehenswürdigkeit	Tourist attraction
3	@AMIR_121	423,087	2017-02-01	museum	Tourist attraction
[4]	@snieckarz	263,671	2019-01-01	Recreation	Beach
5	@RooksieN	2,807	2023-10-09	Performing arts theater	Internal photo
6	You ?	?	?	?	?

[AdamGT]

Level 1-8 Star 360s Views Leaderboard (March 2024) 2024   Jan  Feb
No	Local Guide	Star 360ss Views	Date Uploaded	Maps Category	Description
[1]	@MaxPlusFood	2,247,279	2017-05-01	Train Station	Building
2	@LightRich *	804,298	2017-03-16	Sports Complex	Other
3	@TiffanyStockstill	508,520	2022-08-04	Places	Path or Road
[4]	@AMIR_121	423,087	2017-02-01	museum	Tourist attraction
5	@Anonymous	123,889	2022-11-16	Mirador	Panorama shot
6	@nigelfreeney	41,180	2019-11-01	Gym	Internal photo
7	@efcxp	10,997	2023-09-30	Beach	Beach
8	@ZUKInp	9,241	2023-01-08	Art Cafe	Building
9	You ?	?	?	?	?

[AdamGT]

Current Top 100 Average Star 360s Views/Day Leaderboard (March 2024) 2024  Jan  Feb
No	Local Guide	Average Views/Day	Date Uploaded	Maps Category	Description
1	@JohnDDoe	828	2022-05-28	A cityscape	Cityscape
2	@AT_Rome	317	2017-05-07	Giardino	Garden
3	@LightRich *	313	2017-03-16	Sports Complex	Other
4	@LudwigGermany *	225	2018-02-05	Historische Sehenswürdigkeit	Tourist attraction
5	@Kumaarsantosh	223	2023-09-28	Amusement Park	Storefront
6	@AMIR_121	163	2017-02-01	museum	Tourist attraction
7	@MattGatlin	93	2017-01-16	Restaurant	Storefront
8	@nigelfreeney	26	2019-11-01	Gym	Internal photo
9	You ?	?	?	?	?

[AdamGT]

Hi everyone that reads this stream of the Leaderboard posts!

Welcome @--GA--, @MaxPlusFood, @AMIR_121 and @snieckarz  to the 360 Sphere leaderboards.

Having welcomed the newcomers I need to mention that for obvious reasons, even with the help of dear Lucy, it's proving difficult to select a 360 sphere to feature. Unlike the photo and video leaderboard streams, we've yet to reach critical mass in terms of the number of 360 sphere contributors participating, some of the small number of participants are not updating (me included) and to top it off, a number are not adding their screenshots in the required format 😰 🤢 

So I'm putting this out there, what can we do to make this leaderboard stream as vibrant, exiting and interesting as the photo and video leaderboard streams?  I'm all ears 🤔

[MattGatlin]

Hi @AdamGT , thanks for the spotlight on this month’s 360 boards, and as always an even bigger thanks for your ongoing efforts in all the leaderboard postings!

 I suspect the main reason for lack of greater 360 activity is that the equipment required to shoot 360s isn’t as easily accessible to most people as stills and videos are. Even I no longer take 360s since my original Rico Theta quit working. Even when it was working, since it was a standalone device, it made the upload process more complicated than simply uploading stills and videos from my iPhone. 
Maybe other sphere-tographers have thoughts about this as well.

Thanks again,

Matt