Greetings
Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The featured photo this month is from 23 June 2023 while on my morning walk. The trail is near a wetlands area. I’d shared a similar photo from the same location last summer. The photo at the bottom of this page is of the Old Capitol on 24 June 2023.
Walking and Travel
In June I walked about 218,000 steps covering 59 miles in about 17 hours. That’s about double of my May walking totals. The calculations are provided by Google as totals of my outdoor walks and other steps. The Google Maps and Google Fit monthly reports provide cumulative reports as well as weekly and daily reports. These help to stay motivated.
Below are the steps and travel summary reports for June. The top report is from the Google Fit app and the bottom report is from the Google Maps app.
Reviews now at 3.8 Million
In recent months I’ve started using Google Maps to post reviews of parks, restaurants, museums, businesses, and other destinations.
With billions of people using the Google Maps service, even just a small fraction of views result in surprising numbers.
I am now at about 3.8 million views and gaining at a rate of 500,000 per month. Of those views, about 3.5 million are of photos and 300,000 are people reading reviews of places.
It’s taken some effort to reach “Local Guide Level 8” by earning over 15,000 points. That was achieved by making about 4,500 contributions in the form of photos, comments, and reviews.
If I write a review and take photos of a very popular tourist destination, that will result in more views than information about a place with less popularity. I’m focusing on the places I’m going to anyway, and not making special trips simply to gain more views.
TOPIC REPORTS FOR 2023
I continue to expand on the topic reports found on the Resources For Life dot com website. The list can be found on the What’s New Page. The list of topics expanded considerably in April. I keep adding to these reports, typically with one or two additions per month with a video or article link. Adding incrementally takes very little time since the post and related elements are already present.
TECH WRITING
If you’re interested in the latest tech-related guides and articles I’ve posted, you can visit the Posts Page on the Iowa City Tech website.
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THANKS
Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.
Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 23 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith/philosophy), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and public interest efforts. This is based on the Life Map presented on the Resources For Life website. [View]