Skip to main content

Google Maps is testing video reviews with Local Guides

Google Maps is testing video reviews with Local Guides

/

FOMO just got more real

Share this story

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google has launched a new feature for its Local Guides program that allows users to submit videos up to 30 seconds in length. As spotted by TechCrunch, Google made the feature available a couple weeks ago without much fanfare, but it’s now notifying users via email.

Up until this point, only photos could be attached to locations on Google Maps. People are already used to a short video format on personal networks to share glimpses into restaurants, hotels, or landmark destinations. It makes sense that now, you’d also be able to highlight, say, a restaurant’s trademark table side dish being prepped with a short clip on Google Maps.

As TechCrunch notes, up to 10 seconds of video can be recorded directly through the Google Maps app, and up to 30 seconds of video can be uploaded from your camera roll. To record or upload a video, search for and choose a place in Google Maps, tap “add a photo,” then the camera icon. A bubble then appears that says “New! Hold for video.”

The videos can also be used for personal reviews on Google Maps and TechCrunch says Google is testing the video with some businesses, as well. This is the latest expansion to Google’s Local Guides program, which introduced a rewards system for regular users in late 2015.