Hello, Local Guides!
I have a question (it could be obvious, but not for me): The difference between DOESN’T EXIST and PERMANENT CLOSED.
I’m asking that because in my city a lot of places on Maps are saying “Permanently closed”, but the stores don’t exist anymore. Normally when somewhere is permanently closed here, it’s also not existing.
So is it better if I update to “doesn’t exist” or is that not necessary?
Thanks for answering that!
Hi @SarahKa and thanks for your question
A Place of Interest (POI), such as a business, theme park, garden etc, may have existed at a given location but then is either Temporarily closed or Permanently closed. Temporarily closed would mean for example during the current pandemic or for some other reason it is closed for the time being but will re-open at some future time, details on which are hopefully indicated at the location. Permanently closed means that the POI will not be re-opened at some future time.
Finally, Doesn’t exist there means that at no point in time did the POI exist there and allows you to flag it as such. Once verified Google will then remove that POI.
So you should only use Doesn’t exist in the case that the POI never existed there but Permanently closed if it does but is not going to re-open at this location such as in the case when a business goes out of business.
It may take some time but once our Edit is verified, Google will approve your Edit and on this I refer you to the article
Thanks a lot @AdamGT !
So even if a place doesn’t have a sign anymore, or it has a sign to rent or it was already rented (without the new name), should I still add it as permanently closed, right?
Yes @SarahKa if the business was there but has closed ‘Permanently closed’ is the option you should pick as @AdamGT mentioned. The entry in the database is then kept (for historical reasons), but with that Closed status. If you mark a place as Doesn’t exist the entry is really deleted from the database (if your submission is approved)
When a new business is opened on the same location, a new entry needs to be created for that on Maps.
As I mentioned in my original answer to your question @SarahKa and reiterated by @JanVanHaver it all depends on whether the POI, in your case the business, previously existed or operated there. If it did but but left the premises and now the premises has a sign to rent OR has already been rented by a new business (without or even with a new business sign) then Permanently closed is the correct option for the business that left the premises. In the case of a business Permanently closed means that the business once operated here but no longer does!
If a business has lots of photos and reviews on Google Maps and there is a chance the business will reopen, be sold, or start in a new location such old reviews and photos can be of great value to the business. That is why the “Permanently closed” option exist. This will make it possible to restore those reviews and photos for the business owner. Permanently closed businesses will not show up on the map, but you can find them via text search.
All the best
Morten
Not necessarily true @iorikun301 for example, Permanently closed could mean that while the business has not gone Out of business it has decided to move to a new location or in the case of a multi-location business, while it has not ceased as a business it has decided to close that particular location. The only sure thing that one can say is that the business has for whatever reason, ceased to operate at that location and it’s the business at the location that is Permanently closed…
I’ve just deleted a group of photos from my profile, @SarahKa , because someone flagged as “doesn’t exist” a few places with a total amount of near half million of views. For this reason years ago I wrote an idea: Pop-Up for “fact checking” if you contributed to a place with photos / review . An historical Abbey was erased from Maps, only to be replaced by a new POI with the same name.
Personally, in the last five months, I flagged as “doesn’t exist” hundreds of places (now all removed from Maps), because they were fake POIs, created by some Local Guide to upload photos of vacation. But, if a place existed in the past in one location, Permanently closed is the answer, as already confirmed by others
