During a review today, I stumbled across the following contribution.
While the submission looks OK, it’s clear that the pictures were taken from Google Maps — the shadows and clouds are identical.
How should this be handled? Should it be reported because of the use of third-party photos, or submit it to get more Wayspots?
I would reject for 3rd party photo (under Accuracy > Bad Photo), and then in the comment box in Accuracy note where the images were taken from.
Do not accept a nomination with 3rd party photos just because you want more Wayspots, as 3rd party photos are not allowed per the Photo Guidelines. The photos must be taken by the submitter, and if they just happened to take them but uploaded them to Google Maps around the same time as submitting, then they have the option to appeal this.
Thank you for your reply. I skipped the review this time.
Since the photos were screenshots from Google Street View, there should be no reason for an appeal.
If they are from Street View, no, I don’t think an appeal would be accepted. I’ve gotten reviews for POIs with photos taken from Street View, and I do typically reject for 3rd party photos, and then note that they were taken from Street View in the comments box. Staff review the comments, and if there is a issue, they will handle that.
From some of the threads on the forum, the Wayfarer team take the use of third party photos very seriously and treat it as abuse.
You could report these in the review flow and flag it as abusive.
