Overlanding Google Reviews
Planning our overlanding trips involves plotting a route using GAIA GPS, we do however use Google maps too as we find the sat view more detailed and in most cases quicker.
Overlanding Google reviews are a good idea, in fact we’ve been leaving reviews since we started overlanding in 2020, much of the feedback back then was for the likes of online retailers etc and businesses that we bought products from for the Mitsubishi amongst other things. **UPDATE at the end of this post**
You can also leave reviews for locations and landmarks on Google maps, this comes in very handy for the simple reason that if you are unsure whether to include something in your planned trip, in other words whether to swing by and visit something that may take you a few km off your planned route then you need to know if it’s going to be worth it.
Leaving a review only takes a few minutes and posting a bunch of images is also helpful as they offer back up to what you’re saying. For location reviews we tend to post upwards of a dozen images, more if we can and offer a simple few lines from an overlanding perspective of whether or not the place is worth a visit.
An area or a place has to be pretty grotty for us not to recommend it but we do try to be as honest as possible about cleanliness, access, service, views etc etc. The kind of thing that we ourselves would find useful.
Many Google reviews for our local area [Altiplano de Granada] are, and I am going to be ruthless here – of absolutely no use to anyone at all. There is an art and a recommended way to write reviews in general and we are not going to talk about that here but leaving a star and no text, no images, nothing else whatsoever is the very opposite end of the scale and less than helpful, which is what these reviews are there for in the first place.
Leaving a short and concise review on let’s say a reservoir location in Andalucia helps save time for other overlanders who may be planning an route in the same area. A collection of images can help make up someone’s mind if they are going to visit or not and a good written review can help them decide if it’s going to be worth the 15 minute deviation off route or not.
Clearly there will be some places that will be of no interest and others will be ‘can’t miss it’, a decent review can help immensely.
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
Have you started overlanding Google reviews or do you contribute to another source such as GAIA or other app? How much do reviews left by others help you in planning your overland routes?
Southern Spain
Overlanding in southern Spain can be a great experience with so many places to go, while we are gradually expanding outwards with our travels we currently have a growing list of location reviews right here on the website with most concentrated around the Altiplano de Granada area.
*UPDATE*
Despite writing this post in early 2023 I no longer write or submit Google reviews. It became apparent towards the end of 2023 that Google had an isue with submissions which made it almost impossible to submit reviews without them getting rejected:
Many of my reviews already submitted were also getting rejected afer initially being accepted, some could be appealed against and some not which suggested a lack of consistency, reasons given [if any] were also too vague. After modifying certain reviews some were re-posted and some were not. The whole thing became a mess and unfortunatey I don’t have the time nor the inclination to fight to get voluntary reviews posted. In the meantime I’ll be looking for an alternative platform [suggestions welcome!] to publish on.
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