Hi I am Ryan, I live in a small town in the north-eastern corner of Papua New Guinea (PNG). People might have heard the name PNG but most would struggle pin pointing it on a map. We are the nation that is located right above Australia on the island of Guinea. No not the nation in Africa, but we were named after that nation by Portuguese explorers. One half of our island is part of Indonesia and the other half is us! I moved here a year ago with work from Australia and soon realised that Google maps didn’t really stretch to my town. Well, it showed that our town exists and that we have a main road going down the middle of it but that was about it. So as a local guide that has lovingly uploaded all my favourite and not so favourite places from pretty much where ever I go, I made it my mission to put Madang on the map.
I started adding businesses, restaurants, supermarkets and places of interest over the past year and I must say it has not been as simple to do as back in Australia. Madang, and PNG in general has a lot of developing country challenges amongst which is slow …very slow…snails pace internet. Thats is few have it at all. Its not uncommon for us to loose internet connectivity for a few days after a tropical storm as power lines get knocked down. But I have slowly done my bit to provide my community places to find on their google map. Due to the limited connectivity and minimal coverage of our town, doing a google search for a local business is just not the norm. But slowly, things are changing as more businesses are added and contact numbers and websites available. Id like to think that as a local guide I am making a positive difference in a small way to my community. This is one of the many reasons why I love being a local guide. MADANG … We are on the map now!