I haven’t received any email or notification telling me that I would get unlisted. I spent time creating panos, a website, joining the programme, earning my trusted badge, etc. only to find out that I am not listed anymore.
How do I get listed again and who can I contact to know the reason why I was unlisted?
Briefly, you were removed because, on December 9, 2020, for optimising the list, all the dormant accounts (accounts with no publication of 360° photos for 18 consecutive months) were removed from the list.
According to the contents visible in your profile, your last 360 is dated March 2019 (Five and a half years ago, and 21 months before the announcement).
There is no way to be reinstated, because:
As of July 19, 2021, registrations to the For Hire list are no longer accepted.
On December 31, 2024, that is in less than three months, the list will be deleted, and it will no longer be possible to use the SVTP badge or other promotional material released by Google in your business.
Over the years, many other changes have occurred, meaning that it is no longer possible to use your Local Guide account for your business as a Business Photographer. In fact this is against the Local Guides Program Terms and Conditions : “Organizations, brands, and businesses are not eligible for the Program. If you offer services for hire (such as marketing yourself as a Street View trusted provider), you are not allowed to bundle such services with your Local Guide membership”.
In addition your last 360 photo added in maps is also violating the rules about superimposed text: “For 360 photos, limit superimposed content to either the top or bottom 25% of the equirectangular image”. Kindly remove it
Thanks for the input. Yes, in the meanwhile, I have learned about the programme being discontinued… What I don’t understand is that while I was unlisted as a professional, I was still part of the programme and received no notification at all about the discontinuation.
I understand that one of my photos might violate one rule so please feel free to flag it.
Over the past few years, I have been flagging hundreds of still images, street view images and accounts on Google Maps, and Google has not removed a single flagged image/account. So I am not going to take any action towards my own image(s) when Google can’t seem to care at all when some users post thousands of images that violate multiple rules, for years.
it is no longer possible to use your Local Guide account for your business as a Business Photographer - I get that but why do you mention that? I have never mixed my local guide account with my street view business in any way.
Do you mean that the account non longer displayed in the for hire list is not this one?
Was your business account constantly adding 360 photos in maps, without any interruption longer than 18 months? If so, in the help page there was a form available to appeal the decision, but in this moment it is becoming useless, due to the closure of the program.
The change in the program was widely discussed here in the (now closed) Street View board of Connect, and in several media.
In fact you mixed Local Guides and business activity only once, in the photo mentioned in my previous reply. Of course I can flag the photo for removal, but as it is a single violation it would be better if you remove it by yourself.
That one is the classic photo that should be uploaded “by the owner”. I’m sure you know this better than me
The account listed in the for hire list was not the one I am using now to write here (which is my local guide account). But I believe I had joined the programme with the same account (local guide one) but the name and email address displayed in the list was different. So yeah… now I understand what you mean. The panos were also published with my local guide account. And that last one with the superimposed text… sure, obvioulsy this is wrong then. I should have published it with the account directly “linked” to my business.
Okay… my bad then and honestly I had no idea this was against the rules. I’ll remove it. Thanks.