Store locations and photos
A store's map pin comes from the address picked on the store form or from matching the store to Google Maps. Its photo is the merchant's own upload, else a photo taken from the store's Google Maps place, else the merchant's logo.
Overview#
A store has a typed address and, separately, a map location with coordinates. Only a store with a map location appears on the store map. A store gets a location in one of two ways: a person picks the address from the suggestions on the store form, or the platform team matches the store to its station on Google Maps. A store shows exactly one photo, chosen by a fixed order. The map itself is described on Store locations map.
Map location#
From the address on the store form#
The Address field on the store create and edit form suggests matching places as the user types (from the third character).
- Picking a suggestion fills the address and, on save, links the store to that place's location. The location then counts as set by a person, and matching never overwrites it.
- Typing without picking saves the address as typed, with no change to the location. Editing the text after picking a suggestion cancels that pick.
- Saving other changes (a new name, say) without picking a suggestion leaves the existing location as it is.
- If the place cannot be resolved, the store still saves with the typed address and its location is unchanged; no error is shown.
- If address search fails, the form shows "Address search is unavailable. Please enter the address manually." and the address stays a plain text field. Where address search is not offered at all, the field is plain text with no suggestions.
The address is never required to come from a suggestion.
Matching to Google Maps#
The platform team runs a matching pass that looks for each unpinned store's station on Google Maps. It does not run when a store is saved, so a new store with a typed address stays off the map until it is matched or its address is picked on the store form. A store is pinned only when the match is made with high confidence; otherwise it stays off the map. When two unrelated stores match the same station, neither keeps the match. A location set by a person is never replaced by matching. Only the place reference and coordinates are kept from Google, never its business names or addresses.
Photo#
The photo order#
| Order | Photo | Shown when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Store photo — uploaded by the merchant | A photo is uploaded and its file is present |
| 2 | Google photo — taken from the store's Google Maps place | No store photo, and the Google photo was taken from the store's current place |
| 3 | Merchant logo — set by the platform team, not from the merchant's own pages | Neither of the above |
| — | No photo | None of the three is available; the app shows its placeholder |
Each step is skipped when its file is missing, so a lost file falls through to the next one rather than showing a broken image. Removing the store photo makes the Google photo show again.
The chosen photo is the hero image on the Driver App store card and store sheet, and appears in the store map popup. The Merchant App shows it in the store header. Photos are served from the platform, never fetched from Google when a page opens.
Store photo (uploaded)#
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where | The Photo field on the store create and edit form |
| Shape | One photo per store. Landscape (16:9) works best |
| File | Must be an image, at most 10 MB. A larger file shows "File is too large. Maximum size is 10 MB."; a non-image file is refused on the field; nothing is saved either way |
| Keep | Leaving the file input empty on edit keeps the current photo |
| Remove | Tick Remove the current photo on the edit form |
| History | A changed photo is recorded in the store's audit log. So is removing the Google photo |
The store detail page shows the uploaded photo under Storefront photo, or "No storefront photo uploaded yet.". If the file has gone missing, the edit form says "The stored photo file is missing. Upload a new one or remove it.".
Google photo#
The platform takes one photo from a store's Google Maps place and keeps a copy, together with the photographer's name and links.
- Which stores: stores matched to their station, and stores whose address was picked from the suggestions on the store form, using the place that was picked.
- When: after a store is matched, and after a store form save that links a location. A failed fetch never blocks the save.
- Which photo: the first landscape photo of the place, else its first photo. A place with no photos is recorded as such.
- Current place only: a Google photo counts only for the place it came from. When a store is linked to a different place, the old photo is no longer shown and a new one is fetched.
- Read-only: the photo cannot be replaced by hand. The store detail and edit pages show it under "Google photo (shown when no store photo is uploaded)", with a Google Maps credit, the photographer's name and a View on Google Maps link.
- Remove: tick Remove the Google photo on the edit form ("It will not be fetched again for this place."). The photo is cleared and the same place is not fetched again; linking the store to another place fetches that place's photo.
Permissions#
| Action | Merchant Owner, Merchant Admin | Other roles |
|---|---|---|
| Pick the address, upload or remove the store photo, remove the Google photo | Own stores | No |
A merchant cannot change another merchant's store. Platform administrators can edit any store.