How-to see all POIs when Google Maps prefers to hide them?

[Herve_Andrieu]

 

Port St. Lucie
Port St. Lucie, FL 34984
https://goo.gl/maps/WiR6YsgDvFAUPwkL6

Hey fellow local guides! 

not sure how it works on everyone else's device, but it so frustrating when Google Maps decides to hide most POIs for no good reason.

I took a bunch of pictures in this shopping center and I want to post them, so I end up having to look up each and every store in that shopping center...

Why is it a problem?

1 - Local guides with less experience and regular GM users think the POIs are missing and they add them causing a bunch of useless duplicates. In this particular example, the "Dollar Tree" you can see on my screenshot is actually a duplicate, a hollow shell confusing users who do not see the real local "Dollar Tree". I already reported the duplicate, but GM might not like my edit (who knows what the AI likes....) and someone might make the same wrong post again and again and again...

2 - when you search for something you know is there, GM's behavior can be quite frustrating. I zoom precisely on this shopping center, I ask for "great clips" and GM decides to zoom out, show me the whole SouthEast USA (Florida, South Carolina, Georgia....) and make a list of Great Clips all around.... And now I am forced to zoom back in all the way to the exact shopping center I was zoomed on in the first place.... Great user experience 👍 

My 2 cents and as usual it's to complain... sorry about that, but I'm doing my best to make Google Maps better (and as usual i am leaving this rambling as a message in a bottle without much hope anyone will care).

Thanks!

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @Herve_Andrieu

It's a known issue that there is not room enough on the map to show all POIs even when zoomed in all the way. Also, some PINS are positioned right on top of each other.

In stead you need to do a text search to find all places.

Cheers 

Morten 

[ErmesT]

Hi @Herve_Andrieu 

Don't worry about complaining. Every good example is great, to improve the map, and I agree that a Local Guide with no experience can make mistakes.

Not all the Places are visible zooming on Google Maps, but the not visible places are usually POIs without a storefront, because not visible even from the street.

A good practice before to add a place would be to "search" for the place through the "search" function on the App. In any case, zooming on the area, I can clearly see TWO POIs (please note that I am actually clicking on a different POI, for an objective view.

Caption: a screenshot of Google maps showing a duplicate place, circled in red, while the real one is circled in Green

The screenshot is taken on the desktop version, but on mobile version I have exactly the same view.

Is the duplicate added by you? According to your post probably not, but I am asking because I only see photos added by you in there, and not reviews at all.

As you are mostly complaining about the AI, let's try to understand a bit more about how the AI works:

Merging a POI: There are several reasons that will make your attempt to merge the two places almost impossible:

• You contributed in the place with photos. This for the is an indirect proof of existence, once the place is approved, adding photos and/or reviews on a place, and then asking for the removal, is a contradiction. Your edit is denied not because the AI don't like you, but simply because your photo is declaring the existence of the POI. As you also added the same photos on the real place (adding the same photos twice on different places is against the rules) you should do one more step, and remove your photos from the wrong place.
• The category of the "wrong POI" is Grocery store, while the Good one is categorized as "Dollar store" . Merging two places with a different category is almost impossible, so you should do the operation in steps: 1) Remove your photos from the wrong one (maybe you have already removed the photos, and I see them because the database need to be synchronized). 2) Edit the category to "Dollar Store" 3) Once your change will be updated, try the merge again.
• Be careful about merging direction: The original one is a Claimed Business, so you should merge the Copy on the original one

An easier possible way, once you remove the photos, can be to edit the place as "never existed" and close it. I am not sure, BTW, about the reaction of the AI, due to your previous contributions on the wrong POI

As you can see, the AI have several reasons for not accepting your edits, even if you have several good reasons to try. Hope my tips will help you to fix the issue

[Herve_Andrieu]

@MortenCopenhagen, thanks for the feedback. There's actually plenty of room. I am now on my computer after working the afternoon from my phone (where I take the pictures from) and on the computer, the business names are clearly displayed. So it looks more like an issue with the mobile (Android) version of Google Maps.

@ErmesT, thanks for the detailed suggestion. I can see the POIs now that I am on my computer. The screenshot I shared is from the Android version of Google Maps, with maximum zoom. UI is clearly having a problem on the mobile phone 😞

Also I am looking for stores with storefront as this is where I focus my picture taking. Therefore these POIs should be appearing (and they do on the desktop version...)

I reported dozens and dozens of duplicates over the years (even during periods when the Android app had stopped asking "duplicate of what POI it was reported" which was an interesting bug): so many times, the AI just ignores the report despite the information available and believe me, I know to pick the official POI from the duplicate. The existence of photos/reviews/anything at all does not seem to have much impact on the decision of the AI... I posted my photos from the mobile to the duplicate spot which was the only one visible. After that I posted hundreds of other pictures, so I'm not going to hunt back these pictures to remove them if GM's AI can't take a clue from the existing info. I can assure you that my contributions are not the reason the AI is not doing its job.

The main issue here is that the mobile version (Android, as I have no idea about ios) is having some issues...

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @Herve_Andrieu

I know you know how to merge places.

That all places don't show up on the map is not a bug but a deliberate feature. I agree it would be logical if they did. 

I understand that your example is one where it shows up on desktop. 

Actually, Google Maps tries to show the POIs that are most relevant to you. This inclues places you have visited, contributed to and those that are relevant to your prior search history.

If you go back zoom in on Android it might show up now and not before. Or it may still not show up. Your only safe way to know if a place is or is not on the map is to do a text search.

The notion of there not being room for all POIs do hold water in many/most situations. Imagine multi story buildings with several businesses on top of each other in dense build up areas. Here many pins would be stacked on top of each other. So much so that you could not read the names. That is why Google Maps tries to show only the places that are often visited and most relevant to you.

If you are sure about the street address then you can search for the address only. On the address's pages you will normally find a heading "At this Address" which tends to show all pins at the particular address. 

If you still think it is a bug, please report it as such. 

All the best

Morten