Since its January 2015 launch, Google’s “Local Guides” program has grown rapidly. At one point, it even had a 10x growth rate—growing from 5 million contributors to 50 million in just twelve months:

And now, as of March 2021, it has reached 150 million participants:

But what makes the Local Guides program so interesting is the substantial impact it appears to be having on Google Maps. For instance, since the program’s launch in 2015, Local Guides have contributed “more than 70%” of Google Maps’s user-generated content, including photos and reviews.

And during the same six year period, Google’s place database doubled in size from 100 million places to 200 million:

While this increase isn’t solely due to the Local Guides program, Google tells us that Local Guides added “more than 8 million places” to Google Maps in 2020 alone—which suggests that roughly ⅓ of all new POIs added to Google Maps are being added by Local Guides.

Given Google’s success with Local Guides, it’s surprising that 8½ years after Apple Maps’s launch, Apple hasn’t undertaken a similar initiative.

Google’s numbers suggest that at least 10% of Google Maps’s global userbase have enrolled as Local Guides. And given that Apple’s brand is even stronger than Google’s...

...it seems likely that Apple would be able to entice at least 10% of Apple Maps’s userbase to participate.

(Besides that, how many companies have a customer base as enthusiastic as Apple’s?)

Apple should take a serious look at Google’s Local Guides program and consider a similar initiative for Apple Maps.