Why can't some places be edited on Maps?

I’ve seen so far two kinds of places that can’t be edited. Sometimes they’re an actual nuisance, causing people to waste time going to the wrong place.

No edit link whatsoever

This is the first one, and oddity that shows up on Google Maps like this (link):

However, on the mobile Maps, there’s much more to the story, including tickets, and 35 Questions from people frustrated that they can’t enter the park through this bogus location:

This has been going on for YEARS:

“Suggest an edit on” generic Maps edit link

The second one shows a “Suggest an edit on …” link, but that’s the generic Google Maps editing link, without options to flag as a duplicate (which it is).

Example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EicPh6CDqVXaZtw26

Is Google aware of this? We’d love to know the story!

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Hi @dandv , and thank you for asking.
The park you shared is in fact a geographical area, defined probably during the Map Maker age.
You can add your photos and reviews here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZZsXWnwMMd7Kgahq9.
I know, it appears confusing. You can report it on the Google Maps Help Community for them to escalate the issue to the team
The second place is a building. A building is exactly what the name says, a container of places, like a street, or a square, and not a business itself. So the kind of actions that you can do in a building are exactly the same that you can do on an address, but you cannot edit the building itself.
Again, if you know the location and you think it is wrong, please report it on the Google Maps Help Community

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Thanks @ErmesT. I’ve posted in these places, plus another fake park, in the Google Maps Help Community. I’ve been vastly unimpressed with that community so far, but I’ll hope for the best.

Though, I have to ask:

How could we make Local Guides Connect the place for these reports?

Unlike “Community Help” where random users ask for support, we the Guides help Google. We spend countless hours improving Maps with edits, reviews, photos, updates, and posts in this forum. Google gets plenty of actual crowdsourced value from us, for free. As a consultant, every hour I spend on LGC is an hour I don’t spend billing; it’s actual dollars.

Would it be unreasonable to ask in exchange for some Googler time to escalate these issues in Buganizer, or to the ground truth @ email alias? It’s just more value we’re giving Google, again, for free.

There are 100+ Googlers on this forum, including @TinaWill, Lead product marketing for UGC on Maps.

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Dear @dandv , I hope you’re doing well. I’m facing same as your problem. When I am going to edit or want to change some information of the school in village, edit option not visible, even not able to upload photos or give reviews. What can I do?

Location: Primary School, Merahi, Siwan, Bihar, India. (on Google Maps)

Agree with this statement 100%. Google Maps team needs to listen to the Local Guides directly. Local Guides have tons of issues accumulated to them regarding Maps which needs to be addressed. Solving these issues will improve user experience significantly.

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A lot of different things all together, @dandv

Unfortunately, you wrote in there during the migration of Connect to the actual platform, when for a month everything was “read only”. We have a lot of conversations about hidden reviews. Feel free to post about that

There is already a community for the issues related to Google Maps, mostly for POIs issues, or geographical issues, that are the subject of your initial post,that’s why I addressed you in there. Creating a duplicate of the Help Community will not work, Connect has been created for a different scope. If there is an issue in the Help Community they will have to fix it.

There are currently 75 Googlers who are enabled to access Connect, and 33 accounts of former Google employees (like you) who were enabled to access.
Of the 75 enabled, many have changed roles and are no longer involved in the Local Guides program, although they continue to be enabled to access Connect. The remaining ones are mostly focused on community management and content creation, and rightly so. Tina, who I have met on several occasions and had the opportunity to interact with recently, does a great job in her field.

I hope you’re joking. Local Guides are volunteers who choose to dedicate some of their time to improving the information in Google Maps and sometimes interacting here in Connect. In both Maps and Connect I think I spent a few minutes more than you in contributing. But if this had to have an impact on my work my first priority would obviously have been my work. I hope the same goes for you