LetsGuide Podcast

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].

It’s been a while since we had a News & Updates episode, and obviously, the Google Maps team has not been sitting around idly all that time - which means it’s high time to check out again what new features have been introduced (or spotted as preview) in Google Maps and what’s new in the local guides community.

Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].

There is a lot of information on Google Maps - an overwhelming amount in fact. If you zoom in or out, other types of information will be shown to you: e.g. city or even country names if you’re zoomed out, and individual street or place names when you’re zooming in. Other types of information can also be displayed when you have specific needs, such as traffic information when you are driving.

All of that information is stored and organized on the map in layers - and that is the topic of this episode. 

Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to [email protected].