What to do if Google Maps is wrong?

Please, see here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/@45.9189398,10.0580719,19z/

Not sure if it translates "scuola elementare" to your language of choice, but the point is that Google claims there is an elementary school, even if it's actually a hotel.

This is a problem because there's a nice city map on the sidewalk nearby that hotel, and a playground on the other side of the road, but both of them were rejected and I suspect it's because of that non-existent "school".

I'd like to nominate at least the city map again (I nominated an identical one a few blocks away and it got approved, so it's eligible per se), but how can I tell the reviewers that the building behind it is a hotel and not a school? I might use the secondary photo to show the hotel entrance (street view is outdated, the hotel was in the middle of a change of management at that time, so it has no sign, which doesn't help, either), but...

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Jeroenix-INGJeroenix-ING Posts: 431 ✭✭✭✭

    Quick fix: When reviewing, I usually look to newspaper articles or local magazines for information about a building's role. If there was as school there once, there's bound to be record of it, and articles on the transformation of school to hotel (the hotel's website itself maybe). You could help the reviewers by looking up this information yourself, and putting this in the supporting statement. It will guide the reviewer down the path of verification.

    Best fix (but could take some time to process): Edit the information in Google Maps. You can suggest edits in Google Maps thusly:

    https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7084895?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

  • Sugarstarzkill-PGOSugarstarzkill-PGO Posts: 437 ✭✭✭✭✭

    First, you can write that google maps has it labeled incorrectly. However, people CAN update google maps! The town next to me had all sorts of things incorrectly labeled. I think you need to sign up to be part of the "local guide" program on Google maps? I can look for the answer later if you can't find it, I have to get ready for work in a minute.

  • WheelTrekker-INGWheelTrekker-ING Posts: 3,387 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In Google Maps click on the Scuola, then in the sidebar select "Suggest a change" or however it appears in Italian and then you'll have the option to report that it doesn't exist.

  • nineko84-PGOnineko84-PGO Posts: 47 ✭✭

    Thank you all for your replies.

    Yeah, I knew that you can suggest edits to Google Maps, but I heard that it's a long and cumbersome procedure and it's often bound to fail, which is why I was hoping for an in-house plan B of sorts, but I see that the best thing I can do is provide insightful links in the additional text, hoping that the reviewers aren't going to ignore them.

    Maybe I should just give up on this one.

  • WheelTrekker-INGWheelTrekker-ING Posts: 3,387 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Edits in Google Maps have been very fast for me, it might depend on your rating as "local guide" and the kind of edit being suggested, so it should be the very first action that you take as that will remove any doubt and prevent that people think that your links and comments in the supporting info aren't valid and reject your nomination for the wrong reasons.

  • PoMaQue-PGOPoMaQue-PGO Posts: 252 ✭✭✭✭

    BTW the city map should be eligible, even if there was a school there. It's on the sidewalk on the other side of the bushes.

  • Jeroenix-INGJeroenix-ING Posts: 431 ✭✭✭✭

    Although I believe a standard city map does not meet criteria (ones containing only street names are not 'educational') I agree that this one seen in SV looks really promising. It seems to have separate wooden noticeboards with photographs. Perhaps historic, or otherwise notable.

  • PoMaQue-PGOPoMaQue-PGO Posts: 252 ✭✭✭✭

    My Local Guide level is high enough to get my Photospheres accepted basically straight away.

    I'll submit an edit, see if it works.

    Side-note: Reviewers should take a closer look at StreetView, since you can clearly see the "Hotel" sign a bit up the street.

    And if it is an elementary school: why wasn't mine like this? 😥


  • nineko84-PGOnineko84-PGO Posts: 47 ✭✭

    Jeroenix, since you are interested, this is the "twin" of that map, it's a few block away, I submitted it a couple of weeks ago and it got approved almost straight away, that's why I couldn't understand the rejection of the other identical one, I can only blame the non-existing school. It's a nice map because it also has some hiking paths being in the mountains.

    Thanks again everyone for your support.

  • nineko84-PGOnineko84-PGO Posts: 47 ✭✭
    edited September 2020

    Hello guys, not sure if you wanted an update on this, but both the map and the playground have been approved. I asked a friend to nominate them for me since I ran out of slots and I couldn't wait enough days since I was on vacation, but that's not important.

    Sadly, neither of them are appearing in-game, probably because they're too close to the church, whoever nominated it years ago put the placemark on the very edge, I tried to move it to the centre of the church after I saw those approved wayspot not appearing, but I got an error message, and I couldn't retry because as I said I went home a few days later.

    Maybe it's a good thing that I couldn't move the church since it's a Gym and it could have lost its status, but still, seriously, how DO cells work? It's not fair that some people can get dozens of poke stops within half a metre only because they know how to cheat the system, while other potentially good POIs aren't visible at all, despite literally being on the other side of a road :(

    Other than these two, we counted at least 5 more invisible approved poke stops in that city submitted by my friend and me. That's extremely frustrating and it drains my motivation to submit more wayspots since I don't plan to learn how to cheat the system, my placemarks are always going to be on the spot.

    Sorry for the rant.

  • cyndiepooh-INGcyndiepooh-ING Posts: 1,321 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If you get a gym or poke stop moved, it retains its status. Do some Google searches on planning portals in Ingress to see why some appear close together. It is understanding the mechanic, not cheating.

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