Caption: A photo collage showing pictures of some participants at the Africa Virtual Meetup 1.0
The meetup commenced with a welcome message by Emeka Ulor and the introduction rite was done. Sixteen Local Guides introduced themselves at the beginning but a total of 26 LGs attended the Meetup.
After the introduction session, Local Guides shared their experiences and some challenges faced in their communities with some practical solutions
How to grow our communities
After the introduction session, Local Guides shared their experiences and some challenges faced in their communities with some practical solutions
@Raphael-Mahumane @shared a recent experience where he was invited to a radio station in South Africa. He discussed the Local Guides program and how Google Maps impact the community. He underlined the accessibility project which enables persons with disabilities to move around with less assistance. Raphael confirmed that people called in to indicate interest and subsequently joined the Local Guides South Africa Face book community
Grar @nkwetche informed us that he began hosting meetups since 2018 every month. He created a Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp groups to organize Cameroun Local Guides. This strategy has been critical to the development of the community
@JanVanHaver @Connect Moderator) from Belgium, supported the idea that media publicity can significantly help create awareness to grow a Local Guides community. An example is a Google-sponsored documentary in Belgium where his contribution and journey was broadcast across the country. His pet project Let’s Guide Podcast is also a great platform for sharing success stories of Local Guide
@Sagir , a Level 10 Lagos Local Guide was invited to share his secret to success as part of a recent newspaper publication highlight his Google Maps contribution as a Firefighter. Sagir advised Local Guides to be dedicated rather than focusing on perks. he stated that our contributions would be appreciated when more people are being assisted across Afric
@Hajer-G said that Google Maps in Sudan is largely not updated. So she took up the challenge by creating groups on Facebook and WhatsApp to coordinate other Local Guides to improve the maps. Hajer created YouTube videos to teach others how to make various contributions in Arabic.
Q&R Session
The question and answer session followed.
Fortunately, two Connect Moderators Jan (Belgium) and Raphael (South Africa) were available to answer some of the numerous questions. They were supported by Connect Live Attendee- Grar (Cameroun) clarifying certain issues raised by participants.
Some of the questions include:
- How to find Local Guides in a community easily for engagement
- Nura asked how to improve the accuracy of Maps in Kaduna Nigeria.
- Alpha (the Gambia but schooling in Cyprus) wanted to know how Google enables indoor mapping outside Nigeria and South Africa. He has faced challenges mapping businesses in the Gambia.
- Jeremiah inquired if he could add a location in another city, state, or country.
- Ken Ozordi wanted to know how best to fasten the approval of suggested edits and merging of duplicated places.
Resolution
- We would continue the virtual meetup as a series to meet new African LGs and treat salient issues.
- Local Guides should leverage the new Location Features on Connect to find other LGs in their communities. Also, social media should be employed to grow our communities. Where possible, broadcast media - TV, Radio, and Newspapers could be approached with the support of Google country offices.
- Local Guides were highly encouraged to contribute to the Connect Forum by posting useful content, asking questions, following interesting LGs, and finding fellow community LGs too.
- LGs were encouraged to reach out to Connect Moderators or Google Moderators where they have useful information or challenges on Google Maps.
- Local Guides were advised to stay safe and obey all government regulations during the Corona Virus Pandemic.
Attendees were from Belgium, Cameroun, Congo DR, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan.
See a photo album.
The Meet-up ended at about 2:10 pm
Africa Virtual Meetup 2.0 would be announced subsequently.
Stay Alert! Stay Home!! Stay Safe!!!