# Contribute to Google maps "Local guides" and get cool stuff.



## Cosmic Rob (Nov 15, 2016)

So, it's not as cool as Pokemon Go *could* have been, but Google has this thing called Local guides.
https://www.google.com/local/guides/benefits/index.html

All you do is make an account and start dropping reviews about all the places you've been like pancakes- pictures, stories, good stuff, bad stuff and after a little while you'll start racking up enough points to unlock what might be one of the cooler things i've seen Google come up with in the last few years.
it goes like this:

at 0 points, When you're first starting out, you can hang out and attend google hosted workshops when they have them, and enter in their contests for cool stuff... and get a news letter. (who reads those anyways?)

After 5 points, you can get early access to Google features before they hit the virtual shelves and you can promote your own events on their "local guides" calendar.

at 50 points, you get to be a local guides Moderator and have a spiffy badge put next to your name on the reviews you leave, and you'll be invited to events and conventions in certain cities, when they have them.

at 200 points, You get a free upgrade to your Google drive storage to "you don't need this much space" (which is good for holding music/movies/games/pictures/documents/whatever) and you'll be a featured person whenever you leave a review about a place.

At 500 points, you become a Google insider- where they send you their gadgets and snazzy stuff in the mail before they sell it so you can test it out and give your personal opinion on how it works...or not. they also let you apply to join their local guides convention, which sounds like it could be a fun few days at a hotel somewhere. 

Either way you slice it- If you get around and see a lot of places that are on the map, make new places to be on the map, leave reviews and post up pictures of the place, you get some cool things added to your Gmail and you won't have to worry about using the same phoneputer twice again!


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## Matt Derrick (Nov 15, 2016)

i'm at almost 50 points already and i didn't know there was any rewards for it. they should do a better job at pointing that out.


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## Cosmic Rob (Nov 15, 2016)

I got an E-mail telling me all about it this morning even though i've been doing it for a few years now. i think 200 points is worth the effort just for the free cloud storage- i'd upload all my favorite flicks, sort out my pictures, write stories and have my resume on hand 24/7.


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