The trend of sharing food pics when at a restaurant is a common one. In Australia research has found that almost half (49 per cent) of Australians regularly post food pictures on social media, and that trend continues world wide.
Earlier this year it leaked that Google was working on a new app called Tablescape for foodies to share their food pics, or ‘foodographs’ as Google called them, in a stream. Google began trialing the app with their ‘Local Guides’, select users who rate and review businesses regularly on Google. Google shuttered Tablescape, but it seems they still want to give foodies the option to share their food pics.
Google has begun rolling out a new feature in Google Maps which takes advantage of the integration of Local Guides into the Google Maps app. Local Guides rated level 3 and above will soon be able to ‘Give others a taste of the hottest places in town by posting your foodie pics on Google Maps for Android.’
The feature is a part of Google’s option to add photos to places you’ve been based on a notification received when you snap a pic. Google describes the function in their Google Maps Notification support documents as:
These notifications show up after you’ve taken a photo in public places that Google thinks are interesting to other people, like restaurants and bars.
There’s further guidelines to the photos that Google will allow, and all photos must adhere to Google’s User Content Policy including that the photo has to be:
- in focus and not blurry
- Show what most people experience, like the food or the ambience.
- Not be a selfie or a group photo
When it rolls out, the process looks extremely simple:
| 1. Snap a photo of restaurants, bars, meals, and drinks. |  |
| 2. Get a notification on your Android. |  |
| 3. Post your epic meal on Google Maps in just two taps. |  |
When the feature will go live for all users isn’t clear but it seems that Local Guides at level 3 and above can access it now if they’ve updated to the latest version of Maps.
