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

There are basically two different ways of adding/editing information on Google Maps: in the mobile app on your phone or in the browser on your computer (a.k.a the desktop version – although it’s frequently used on laptops too). Both have their pros and cons, but in one particular case I find it most convenient to use a combination of the two.

Picture by Skitterphoto on Pixabay – so: not my gear

Adding a new place is typically done in the mobile app, when you are walking around in a city or area and come across a point of interest (POI) that is not yet showing up on the map. And although technically you can perfectly add most of the information in the process of creating a POI, this is often not very convenient: not all additional information (like telephone number, official website, etc) is marked visibly at the POI, and attempts to look it up on their website (provided you can easily find it) is often a hassle (it’s amazing how many website are still not optimized for mobile devices!).

So, what I usually do is submit the new POI with the required fields only, plus a photo taken on the spot and then move on to continue my field trip. (An addtional reason for taking a picture: sometimes the POI does exist already, but the app only reveals this fact when you click to create the POI, by serving up the ‘Did you mean this one?’ screen – in those cases I have a picture readily at hand to add to the exisitng POI.)

Upon returning home, I then use the desktop version to look up, in a much more conventient way, addtional information about the places I have created during the field trip, and suggest edits for those.

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.