[This is one of a series of articles originally published on Local Guides Connect]

This is one I struggled with myself quite a bit when I started out as local guide. When you’re walking around in a neighborhood, or explore one on the desktop version of Google Maps, the number of existing points of interest (POI) you get to see heavily depends on the zoom level you are at. Especially in urban areas, where there are obviously much more POIs than in rural areas, it can be quite important to zoom in an out at the appropriate locations.

I have no idea exactly how many different zoom levels there are, but I have experienced that carefully zooming in – even to the level where the maps gets heavily pixelated – can reveal additional places. But being zoomed it in at those extreme levels can make it hard to keep the overview of the area, so it’s really a matter of learning to use this correctly. Also: try zooming it as much as you can on crossroads. That will sometimes reveal one or more POIs that have only a streetname but no house number entered – which is of course a great opportunity to score additional points by suggesting edits. Check the screenshots below to see an actual example.

Nothing to see on the crossroad

When zooming in 2 POIs appear

At the highest possible zoom level a 3rd POI appears

The original article can be found here

Disclaimer: the practices described here as best practice are my personal interpretation, and I don’t claim any level of official endorsement.