Google Maps - 1,500 Photos, Five Million Views

According to recent stats from Google Maps, I've uploaded more than 1500 photos to Google Maps. Also, according to the stats, those photos have received slightly more than 5,000,000 views.

The number one viewed photo - with more than 200,000 views - is the (so-called) Silliman University Anthropology Museum. The building is still there, of course, though the name has changed. The building is now longer used as a museum.

Number two - with more than 85,000 views - is the now closed, FilOil-Airport Gas Station which is now Eco Oil.

Number three - with 81,000 views - is the Saint Joseph Parish church in Cebu city.

Number four- with 62,743 views - is the church in Dumaguete where we attend Mass on Sundays, Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church.

Coming in at number five - with 100 fewer views than Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church - is the Star Oil gas station located near the airport. Why this gas station should have received so many views is a complete mystery to me.

Equally a mystery is why the basketball court in Cangmating, Sibulan should come in number six with 52,000 views. Surely, this must be the work of bots.

At number seven is the Uling Roasters on the National Hwy in Sibulan. The photo has received 44,000 views. The chicken there is very, very good. It's unlikely, however that they will ever have 44,000 customers.

One of my photos of Negros Oriental State University comes in at number eight with 40,000 views

Number nine - with 36,635 views - is the Manhattan Suites Inn on the South Road, in Brgy Calindagan, Dumaguete.

Another popular hotel comes in at number ten with 36,494 views. The Bethel Guest House on Rizal Blvd.

It goes without saying that I'm pleased that my photos have received 5,000,000 plus views, but I can't understand why some of the photos that have received the most views have received the numbers they did.

My Last Photos

The photos in this post are the last photos taken with my digital camera. As a matter of fact, the first photo displayed here is the very last photo taken. It is given the name IMG_0838.JPG, and was taken on May 6, 2018. It is a view of the southern point of Cebu island as seen from Our Lady's Garden in Sibulan, Negros Oriental.

For several months, I have been looking for a back-up memory card for my camera. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find one in Dumaguete. Recently, friends from the United States were visiting, and I had considered asking if they could purchase a memory card for me in the States, but because I didn't actually need one at the time, I failed to ask.

On the day these photos were taken, I removed the memory card, as usual, to upload onto my PC. After uploading the photos, I somehow managed to damage the memory card. It is no longer of any use.

Of course, now I'm regretting not having asked my friend to bring a spare memory card.

After searching the Internet, I found a memory card available on an online store in Philippines. I thought the price a bit high, but I saw no other option. I ordered the card COD - for a total cost of 528 pesos.

A few days after ordering the card from Lazada, I came upon a similar memory card at a photo shop in Dumaguete - selling for over 800 pesos.

Sadly, 12 days after receiving an email telling me my item was shipped, it hasn't arrived. As I write this, I am chatting with someone with Lazada customer service. Like my son, his name is given as John Paul-S. John Paul tells me my package will arrive on or before May 22. We'll see how that works out.

A Year on Google Maps

It was just a little more than a year ago that I first received an email from Google Maps letting me know that some photos I had uploaded of San Antonio de Padua parish church in Sibulan had been viewed more than 5,000 times.

At the time, I believed that to be quite an achievement. In the year since then, my photos of the church have topped over 12,000 views, but the number of views for all the photos I've uploaded to Google Maps have gone well over 2 million (+) views.

For quite some time now, my top two photos (by views) have been one of my photos of St. Joseph parish church on Pope John Paul II avenue in Cebu, and one of my photos of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist church in Dumaguete.

 Earlier this month, I expressed surprise that my photo of the Star Oil gas station located near the airport had reached 4th place with more than 30,000 views. Now, I find the photo is my 3rd most viewed photo with more than 35,000 views, finally passing Manhattan Suites Inn by 2,000 views. That photo is only 4,000 views behind the 2nd placed photo, and could pass Our Mother of Perpetual Help church. It is 23,000 views behind the number one photo. I will be very shocked if a photo of a gas station overtakes first place.

Two Million Views

The photos I've uploaded to Google Maps have surpassed two million views. The top four photos haven't changed since I last wrote on this nearly two weeks ago.

1) St Joseph parish church on Pope John Paul II ave in Cebu. (50,000+ views)
2)Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church in Dumaguete. (33,000+ views)
3)The Manhattan Suites Inn - also in Dumaguete. (32,000+ views)
4)The Star Oil gas station located near the airport on the National Highway. (27,000+ views)

The fact that more than 27,000 people would want to look at a photo of a gas station continues to amaze me.

An Update on My Google Maps Photos

It was in May that I noted that my photos uploaded to Google Maps had received 1.5 million views. I also noted at the time that it was one of my photos of Saint Joseph Parish on Pope John Paul II Ave. in Cebu that had received the most views of any of my photos. That's still the case today, with that photo having received more than 48,000 views.

While checking the photo stats this morning, I saw that my photo of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church in Dumaguete had moved to 2nd place overtaking my photo of the Manhattan Suites Inn in Dumaguete. I like that because this is the church where we attend Mass.

The photo that continues to surprise me is my photo of the Star Oil gas station located between the Dumaguete airport and the Mitsubishi dealership on the National Highway. In May, I was shocked to see that photo as the 6th most viewed of all my photos. Today, it has taken over 4th place with more than 25,000 views. It's a great puzzle to me why, out of the 1,400 photos I've uploaded to Google Maps, a photo of a gas station should receive so many views.

1.5 Million

As I write this, the photos I've uploaded to Google Maps have been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

Naturally, I feel pretty good about that. However, as with a lot of things connected to Google Maps, there is a little bit of confusion around this.

For several weeks,one of my photos of St. Joseph Parish church in Cebu city has been the photo most viewed among all my photos. That's perfectly understandable.

I can also understand why my photo of a hotel in Dumaguete -Manhattan Suites Inn - would be number two.

No, what puzzles me is why my photo of a gas station - Star Oil located just past the Dumaguete airport - should come in 6th place with almost 18,000 views.

Google Maps' Strange Behavior

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had recently added two new locations to Google Maps. Not only have I added locations recently, but I've uploaded new photos of preexisting locations to the website as well.

Being a "Local Guide" for Google Maps, I get "points" for each individual place that I photograph. Earlier this week, I had taken photos of seven different locations. A screen shot of my "points" prior to my uploading these new photos showed that I had 612 places with photos. After uploading the seven, Google increased that number to 619. Naturally, 612 plus 7 equals 619.

Later the same day, I went back to the website where upon it said I had only 613 places with photos. No explanation.

At a later point, I went back and found Google Maps had given me points for 630 places with photos. Still, no explanation.

.

Now, today the number is back to 619, which is probably the correct total.

I'm not making money off this - it's not like Google adsense. I don't get anything for these photo points. However, even though this is just a hobby for me, I would like to see an accurate count. Is that too much to ask?

Another Photo Takes Number One Spot

I noted in March that my photos uploaded to Google Maps had been viewed more than 1,000,000 times. Now, the total number of views has exceeded 1,300,000. At the time of that post, my photo of Manhattan Suites Inn on South Road Calindagan, in Dumaguete was the one with the most views of any of my photos - 30,104 views. As I noted in that post, I was surprised to learn that my photo of the St. Joseph parish church on Pope John Paul II Ave. in Cebu City had overtaken the number two spot.

Today I learn that the St. Joseph parish church has reached the number one spot with over 32,000 views. Also, surprisingly, my photo of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Redemptorist Church in Dumaguete has become the third place photo. I especially like that result because this is the church where my wife, my son and I attend Mass.

1 Million Views and Rising

It's been been four months since I last posted an update on the status of the photos I've uploaded to Google Maps. At that time, my photos had received just over 300,000 views. Now, those photos have been viewed in excess of 1,000,000 times.

As noted in the November post, my photo of Manhattan Suites Inn on South Road Calindagan, in Dumaguete  is my most widely viewed photograph.

Today, with more than 30,000 views, that hotel is still in first place, although the 2nd place spot has been surprisingly overtaken by my my photo of the St. Joseph parish church on Pope John Paul II Ave. in Cebu City. That particular photo had been taken from our room at Express Inn during one of our trips to the Philippine immigration office in Cebu. Prior to this, the top spots had been various hotels in Dumaguete.

My Week in Review

At some point in 2016, I made an unspoken resolution that I would publish at least 366 blog post that year. That would, of course average one post a day and top my previous record from 2008 of 354 for the year. There were times during the year when I fell behind, but I would catch up by writing multiple posts on other days.

Today, March 4 is the 63rd day of 2017, and to maintain the 365 for the year I should have at least 62 posts by now. The count shows 57. I'm 5 posts behind where I'd like to be, but truth be told, even with the 5 posts deficit I'm in better shape for making the goal than I was this time last year.

Reviewing the blog yesterday, I noticed that I had gone a week without posting anything. Part of the reason for the failure to post was because my wife and I needed to travel to Cebu to pick up my I-card from the Philippine immigration office there. Traveling to Cebu from Negros island really takes a toll on me. Although it's only about 165 kilometers (about 102 miles) from Sibulan to Cebu city, it takes 41/2 to 5 hours to get there by bus. It's possible that, if I choose to have my car ferried over I could drive the distance in less time, but I doubt the time saved would be significant and I'd have to drive in Cebu city traffic - something I'd absolutely hate.

We left Sibulan by Ceres bus Tuesday at around 3:30 AM, ferried across to Cebu island, and continued on the bus into the city. We returned to Sibulan at around 5:30 PM. The trip had taken 14 hours with only about 15 minutes of that 14 hours spent at the immigration office. I was in and out with my I-card in no time at all.

Being a resident of Philippines, I have to do an annual report to immigration within the first 60 days of the calendar year. I became a probationary resident in 2015 (permanent now) and I thought I'd need to do the annual report in 2016. Failing to do the report by the deadline will result in a 1200 peso fine. Because my I-card had not been issued by the March 2nd deadline, I was told last year that a 2016 annual report was not required. However, when I went to the local immigration office in Dumaguete Wednesday to file the 2017 report, there was some question as to whether I would be penalized for not doing a report in 2016.

I had to meet with the head official of the Dumaguete immigration office to determine if I'd have to pay for 2016. My understanding was, that since my probationary I-card had not been issued until April of 2016 - well past the March 2nd deadline - I had not been required to file a 2016 annual report. The officer was insistent that, because my probationary visa had been granted in 2015, I had been required to file in 2016 (even without an I-card) and I'd have to pay for the 2016 report, plus late fee, as well as my 2017 report. While I was waiting to make the payment, the officer called a subordinate into his office and told her to call Manila to double-check. The phone call determined that I had been right and the head officer wrong. I was not required to file the 2016 report, so I only need to pay the 310 peso fee for the 2017 annual report.

I paid the 310 php, thanked the officer for following this through, and happily left the office.

Double O Seven to the Rescue

Thursday afternoon, my wife and I left home on a trip to Cebu. We had an appointment with Philippine Immigration Friday morning and the only way we could make the appointment on time was to stay over night in Cebu city and take a taxi Friday morning to the Immigration office from the hotel.

It was just before 2:00 PM when we stepped out onto the road in front of our apartment in the hope of getting a pedicab to the Sibulan pier. It was hot. Very hot, and pedicabs weren't out and about in our area at that time of day. Afew would pass by going in the opposite direction.

Just when I thought that we'd never get a pedicab going our way, who should come to the rescue but double o seven.

I've seen this pedicab around Sibulan quite a lot. I don't know if I've actually seen this one more than any other, but the number sticks in my head - I pay more attention to it. I even made a wee little joke about it in a blog post from this past June ,when I took the photo below.

The odd thing I learned is that the driver knows my wife's Papa (and my wife as well).

Thanks to 007, we managed to get to the pier in time for the 2:00 o'clock fast craft to Santander. 007 may not have been driving his Aston Martin, but it was good enough for us.

Our Latest Trip to Cebu City

Our recent trip to Cebus had its own positive and negative aspects - its own ups and downs - its own Yin and Yang.

My original plan was to take the first fast craft leaving Sibulan for Liloan, Santander at 5:00 AM. With the time involved in traveling by water, then the bus ride from Santander to the South Bus Terminal, we should arrive in Cebu by 10:00 AM. With luck, we might be able to finish our business with Immigration in time for the last bus returning to Santander that afternoon.

Unfortunately, a defective alarm clock put the kibosh on that plan. We woke up too late for the 5:00 AM departure, taking the 7:00 AM trip instead.

The heavy traffic from the South Bus Terminal to the J Centre Mall, where the Immigration office is located, didn't help either.

On the positive side, everything went better than expected at Immigration. I was able to get my I-Card with only a five minute wait. Getting all the paper work, for my status conversion from probationary resident to permanent stamped, approved and paid for, also went surprisingly well. The fee turned out to be 2000 pesos less than I had expected, and on top of that, we were finished by 2:00 PM. We wouldn't be able to make the last bus to Santander, but it was theoretically possible to catch the last bus going via ferry to Dumaguete. We might not have to spend the night in Cebu after all.

The 10 kilometer taxi ride from the Mall back to the terminal took two hours. We had even bypassed stopping at Krispy Kreme in hopes of still making the bus.

We did make it in time for the last bus, but it was so crowded, and we were so far back in the pack, taking the bus would have involved standing for the five hour trip. We weren't up to that.

My wife and I decided, instead, to head the the hotel where we normally go when staying over night in Cebu. Fortunately for us, there's a suitable cafe adjacent to the hotel. We could get a decent meal and go to bed at a respectable 7:00 PM.

Up before four, we were out of the hotel by 5:00 AM, and in a taxi heading for the terminal. We managed to get a light, non-nutritious breakfast across the street from the terminal and were able to catch the first bus to Santander. It was so early when we left Cebu, the Krispy Kreme located not too far from the hotel was not yet open. We would be leaving the city sans glazed donuts.

We'll be returning to Cebu toward the end of next week for an interview with Immigration. The appointment time is 10:00 AM which means we'll have no other option than to travel to Cebu the day before the interview. We'll be able to be at the Immigration when it opens at 8:00 AM and with a bit of luck, we might even be able to bump up the interview time. Stranger things have happened.

Even with the scheduled 10:00 AM interview, we'll have no problem getting the afternoon Santander bus. We might even have time to go by Krispy Kreme.

Krispy Kreme in Cebu

Early tomorrow morning, my wife and I will be traveling to Cebu city on business. While we're there, we hope to have time to stop at a Krispy Kreme donut shop before heading back home. There is more than one Krispy Kreme location in Cebu, and one is about 10 minutes from the hotel where we normally stay while in that city.

We have two full scale Dunkin' Donuts in Dumaguete, but no Krispy Kreme. If we are able to buy some of their donuts tomorrow, it will be the first time we'll have eaten Krispy Kreme donuts since arrival in Philippines over two years ago. As much as I love Dunkin' Dunkins, I wish we could magically swap one Dumaguete Dunkin' Donuts for one of Cebu's Krispy Kreme.

I'll be sure to post an update on this extremely important topic when we return.