I always love to look at the maps, especially the world map, Malaysia map, and my local area map. Believe it or not, I’ve already been active in adding places and roads in Google Maps, which at that time Google Map Maker still existed, since I was 10 and now I am turning 21 in June.
As a local guide, I am proud to help in completing many things that are incomplete back in my residence. It is called Pusat Penyelidikan Pertanian Tun Razak (PPPTR), or in English, it literally means Tun Razak Agricultural Research Centre. It is located in Pahang, approximately 22 km from Bandar Tun Abdul Razak Jengka and 25 km from Jerantut. The complex is divided into 4 parts; Desa Tanjung, Desa Cempaka, Desa Bungor, and Desa Kenanga.
For your information, this complex consists of two main offices, staff houses, a park, a football field, a grocery store with the fuel pump, a public square (KMK Square), a resort (Felda Residence Tekam), some factories and schools. It also has its own fruit farms (which also consists of durians) for research purposes. This place has been established by the second Prime Minister in 1972.
Despite its greenness, calmness, and beauty of this place, the place was unknown to Google Maps back in 2010. What I’ve helped is:
- Roads
After I saw that the roads in PPPTR are incomplete, I used Google Map Maker to make it complete. Without using any mobile phone as there is no smartphone yet, I use my bicycle to go sightseeing while remembering the road names. Luckily for me at that time, the first satellite image had appeared. So it really helped me to create the roads with its name. However, not all roads are correct and complete. There are some changes in routes and road names that have never been approved until now.
- Schools
There are three schools in PPPTR, but both of them did not appear in Google Maps at that time. I have added all of them to help outsiders to find the school. They are the primary school, the secondary school, and the religious school.
- Mosque
For us Muslims, a mosque is the heart of a residence. But the location of the PPPTR Mosque in Google Maps before had been badly misplaced, which was initially put in the middle of the jungle. After I tried to correct its location several times, I finally managed to put it at the correct location. The mosque has won many awards in terms of cleanliness, QC and events.
- Main offices
Here, there are two offices. The first, Pejabat FELDA Wilayah Jengka, administrates the whole Jengka territory (consists of Jengka 1 until Jengka 25, Sungai Tekam, FELDA Kota Gelanggi 1-4, FELDA Padang Piol and Sungai Retang) which turns out to be the government offices. While the other one, PPPTR Agricultural R&D Centre, is private under FGV Agri Services Sdn Bhd, which more to research and development. With the role played these offices are very essential to be added onto the map.
- Resort
FELDA Residence Tekam is one of the resorts owned by FELDA Travel Sdn Bhd. Besides accommodation, it also provides family day packages, a swimming pool, and a golf course. This resort has also been the prey of misplacement where it is put wrongly, not even in PPPTR itself.
Lastly, I have added a few Google Street View photos, but instead of using my own account, I use my father’s because he used an iPhone while I just use a cheap phone with a mediocre camera. I have added the photos in Pejabat FELDA Wilayah Jengka, PPPTR Mosque, and the lake photo which exceeds 96,244 views.
Despite all that, I really hope that “Pusat Penyelidikan Pertanian Tun Razak” will appear on Google Maps, just like FELDA Sungai Tekam and FELDA Kesidang Jengka 8. It’s kinda sad when you cannot Pusat Penyelidikan Pertanian Tun Razak in any address. I’ve tried to add it before in Google Map Maker, but it is unsuccessful. I hope this post can make Google Maps add PPPTR on the map one day.
Maybe for you, especially in huge cities and first-class countries, this is just a small contribution. But in reality, places like this are being left out in terms of the map contribution. I really hope more people in rural areas will contribute to Google Maps, especially the young ones.
