Last summer I was trying to get an apartment inside London where I could be in the centre of the Olympics atmosphere without compromising the ambience of the environment. Someone gave me an address and all I had to to do check the environment was to check the location and its environment using Google Maps. I walked through the street, checked the surrounding houses and the neighbourhood. Google Maps is truly a necessity not a nice to have.
So I am really tripped that Google is extending this convenience to Africa, particularly Nigeria. According to a recent Google Africa blog post by +Evans Arabu, Google has been hard at work with various companies to map Nigeria. He goes on to say:
“And now we’re pleased to announce more than 12,000 additional locations such as bank branches, ATMs, POS outlets, eateries, telcos service centres and petrol stations becoming available on Google Maps and Google Maps for Mobile. Without needing to know the specific street name and number, you can easily get addresses and directions by searching for any of the following companies or services on Google Maps:
- banks including Access Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, Enterprise Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, GTBank, Keystone Bank, Mainstreet Bank, Skye Bank, Sterling Bank, UBA, Union Bank and Wema Bank
- filling stations including Forte Oil , Oando and Total
- eateries including Chicken Republic, Mr Biggs and Tantalizers
- telcos services centres including Etisalat, Starcomms, Globacomm and Visafone“
Evans points out that these new points of interest add to the many locations already available on the Google Maps of Africa, including more than 40,000 schools in Nigeria; more than 34,000 schools in Kenya courtesy of the country’s ICT board; and 8,000 other places such as hospitals, market centres, shops and churches thanks to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). He also welcomes other organizations and government departments who have quality data to work with Google through the basemap data partner program.
Google says that with Map Maker launched in every country on the continent, It has also witnessed the growth of a vibrant mapping community, with more than 100,000 unique editors contributing upwards of 2 million changes to Google Maps of Africa. Successful events have includes students’ mapping events in Gauteng South Africa, the Rwanda tourism Map Up focused on the hospitality industry, ladies’ mapping events in Uganda and Ghana, Map Ups in Northern Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire, events led by the by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) working with EGreen services in Nigeria, and campus efforts led Africawide by Google student ambassadors.
The quest to create comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use Google Maps in Africa started about 4 years ago. From basic maps of major roads to detailed maps in many African countries, cities and towns, these maps have since evolved to include local domains, driving and walking directions, traffic information, Street View imagery in South Africa and Botswana, and turn by turn GPS navigation in South Africa, Algeria and Tunisia. By sourcing information from local businesses, governments, partner providers and of course, our volunteer Map Maker community, our road coverage has increased from 20% in 2008 to 75% in 2012, and the the number of towns and villages mapped has grown by 1000 percent.
