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Local Guides Connect is the official forum that Google provides for local guides. It’s a place where we can all exchange our experiences, celebrate our achievements, ask Maps-related questions, and even utter our frustrations about seemingly unfair treatment of our contributions. On July 15th, Connect celebrated its 10th anniversary, and to honor this occasion, I asked all of you to let me know what your favorite Connect post was from those 10 years by submitting short audio clips.  Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

In the last few weeks quite a few interesting and/or newsworthy facts about Google Maps and the Local Guides program have popped up on my radar. So the only sensible thing to do for me is to make another News & Updates podcast episode. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

Everything about Google Maps and the Local Guides program is absolutely flawless. It’s all absolutely perfect. Or is it? Well, in reality, like in every aspect of life there are some imperfections of course. I have been wanting to make a podcast episode about that for a while, but always found it hard to rant about my favorite hobby. So I decided to outsource that task to AI. And I’m pretty sure the result will baffle you at times. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

The Google Local Guides program is based on users of Google Maps making voluntary contributions to the map. No money is paid whatsoever for the (sometimes quite elaborate) work local guides are performing. From time to time, however, there are some small non-monetary rewards, commonly known as perks. And those are the topic of this episode. Make sure to stick around until the end, as I will share some tips on how you might also become eligible for some of the most valuable perks. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

It’s been almost a year and a half since the previous News & Updates episode, so you can imagine that there is quite a bit to report on. There are new features in Google Maps in general, but I’ve also spotted a number of changes that are first and foremost meaningful to local guides, especially those who regularly make edits. Make sure to stay tuned until the end, as I also have some nice stories showcasing the impact Google Maps can have these days in our everyday lives. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

The year 2025 not only saw Google Maps turn 20, but also the local guides program has a special birthday to celebrate, as it by now has existed for 10 years already. Within the local guides community and on LocalGuidesConnect, the official forum, a lot has been organized for this occasion - and I would also like to contribute by making a podcast episode for this 10th anniversary of the local guides program, containing contributions from local guides worldwide. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

If you’ve never heard of Connect LIVE, you might wonder why a podcast episode about the return of Connect LIVE is needed at all. If you know what it is, on the other hand you’ll probably be extremely excited about the fact that Google decided to bring it back. Just keep listening to find out the details. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected]

One of the most popular episodes of the LetsGuide Podcast is episode 10, titled “Level 5 in a Day”, where I explain how it is possible - in a completely legitimate way - to score 500 points (the amount needed for level 5) in a single day. Reaching level 10, however, requires 100.000 points, so you would have to spend almost 7 months (200 days scoring 500 points every single day) to reach that goal. In today’s episode I am revealing some advanced techniques that will enable you - once more: in a completely legitimate way - to get the prestigious level 10 badge within 1 single month. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

In the past few months quite a bit of exciting new things have popped up, both on Google Maps and in the local guides program. So what else could I do but put together a brand new “News & Updates” episode? And as a bonus we have some exciting details about the upcoming EuroMeetup 2024 in Manchester. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

In February 2019, the first episode of the LetsGuide Podcast was released. That is now 5 years ago, and to celebrate this milestone, I decided to make a special episode - one where the content is created by the listeners. So, a while ago I reached out to the audience in several ways asking to submit audio clips with answers to 4 questions. And this is where you now get to hear the result, with contributions from local guides, Connect moderators, Google moderators and even members of the Google Maps team. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

Okay, not only is the Google Maps team continuously releasing new features, I’m now also receiving an increasing amount of messages from fellow local guides and podcast listeners about novelties they have noticed. So, it is high time for another news & updates episode. Do stick around until the end, as I’m also covering a few news items that I have not shared anywhere yet. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

Sometimes you come across special projects using Google Maps as their main tool. Perhaps you might recall episode 12 about EdPins, a project focusing on schools. In this episode we look at a project that aims to add water taps, places where you can refill your water bottle, to Google Maps. And you will also find out how local guides can help in getting this ambitious project realized. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

In episode 35 we covered the basics about adding roads, but since then a lot has been going on in exactly that domain, so here’s another episode with additional info on adding roads, which also includes official answers from the Google team to a number of questions I was able to submit to them. And you’ll certainly want to stick around until the end of the episode, as there’s a section with some exciting news items as well. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

It has only been 3 months or so since the previous ‘News & Updates’ episode, but still I have already come across enough topics to fill another one. So here we go again: an overview of the interesting and/or newsworthy things related to Google Maps and the local guides program that I have encountered in the past few months. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

The very first episode of the LetsGuide Podcast dates back to February 2019 - more than 4 years ago. It was called “The basics”, as it explained in detail what it means to be a local guide. For a while now, I have been wanting to make an update of it, but I didn’t like the idea of putting a lot of work into that. So the solution I came up with is to simply ask ChatGPT to write it - and that’s exactly what I did. Of course, having to record all those AI-generated texts with my own voice would also be a considerable effort, so I decided to have the answers ChatGPT provided read aloud by AI-generated text to speech software. So I present to you: the basic info about the local guides program, as created and read aloud by AI. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].