Mapping for Good
To explain the meaning of “Mapping for Good” I borrowed the description from the Geo For Good 2021 website: “Our Geo for Good Summit is an annual conference geared toward nonprofits, scientists, government agencies and other change-makers who want to leverage mapping tools and technology for positive impact in the world”
I firmly believe that Local Guides can also play a role in this, especially when they decide to carry out activities that are almost invisible in our profile, but which can have a huge impact on the people who benefit from them. No one will ever know that the street was added by a Local Guide. Those who follow it guided by Google Maps will never know that until a few days before that road did not exist, and that if they managed to reach the place where they wanted to go it is only thanks to the contribution of that anonymous Local Guide. The important thing is that they managed to reach their destination.
Travel back in time
Today I want to travel back in time and go back to the beginning of my Local Guide story. When, in October 2016, I was knocking on the door of Google and Connect, asking to be able to talk about the earthquake.
Between 2016 and 2019 Umbria and Marche became the areas of Italy where I traveled the most. If on the one hand the earthquake destroyed homes and territories, on the other it contributed to building deep and lasting friendships.
If you don’t know the areas, look for them on Maps. You will discover blue skies, soft green hills, delicious food, history and culture.
SAE
SAE (Soluzioni Abitative di Emergenza - Emergency Housing Solutions), it is how the “temporary” houses built in the areas of the earthquake are called in Italy
SAEs are homes, built in central Italy in 2017-2018 to offer temporary accommodation to those who lost their homes in the earthquakes of August and October 2016. The SAEs did not want to replace the destroyed villages, but simply to give the inhabitants the opportunity to continue living in the area, pending reconstruction. A difficult reconstruction, in mountainous areas, slowed down by the fact that they were often historic buildings, with a high cultural value, and subsequently blocked by two years of pandemic.
The SAE groups arose quite quickly, connected by new roads, equipped with parking spaces, to restore life and dignity to the people who had lost everything in the earthquake.
Re-Building a Map
Between 2017 and 2019 the Italian Local Guides contributed a lot, to redesign the map of the area, and relocate the shops, restaurants, banks, and all the other production activities that had had to move due to the earthquake. We have carried out specific meet-ups precisely to re-map the territory, as well as to make it known.
Then Covid stopped us, so I come back today, virtually, to complete an activity started in 2018, when, in April, I was talking about Mapping in Emergency Areas
At the beginning of this year I wanted to “virtually” return to those territories, to find out what had changed in Google Maps in those areas.
The satellite images have changed, and now the SAEs are clearly visible in Maps. What was missing were the streets.
So I said to myself “Ok, now Google has given me a new tool, it will mean that I will add the roads”.
And so I did. I spent about 8 days scouring the earthquake area, city after city, village after village, to locate the SAEs and add the missing roads.
The SAEs are easy to identify on the map: Small structured groups of houses, almost miniature villages, with houses all the same, new roads, paths organized to reach each house. Exploring the map it is not possible to go wrong, especially since the original villages are often gray, the color of the dust and rubble of old houses.
I proceeded in a methodical way, starting from the places I knew personally, such as Cascia, Visso, Norcia, Castelsantangelo sul Nera, and then starting to explore the map moving in bands, starting from my initial reference points.
I wanted to start from Cascia, as the photo of the SAEs you see at the beginning of the post was taken right there, in 2018, and was used to tell the need to Map in emergency areas. At that time, Google Maps showed pastures and cultivated fields, and not the houses that can be seen today.
You can explore the place in the embedded map here below
So I entered the streets. I didn’t have much hope that they would be approved, but I was wrong. I have to say that Google Maps for its part was very quick in approving the changes. This encouraged me to continue.
For 8 days I explored the map, dividing it into sectors, taking screenshots of “Before - During and After editing” in order to remember which ones I had already entered.
8 days of Explore, Find, Edit, and move forward to Explore again, Find, Edit, and so on.
Now all the SAEs I was able to identify have roads in Maps. This means if anyone can reach them: the postman, an express courier, the one who delivers pizza at home, or simply a friend.
Of course it is a small step, done by a single Local Guide, but try to imagine if all 150 million Local Guides took this small step together.
What would you like to do, as soon as the editor is available for you, to improve your area? What kind of Roads, Parking places, walking trails would you like to add in Google Maps?
