The Internet has become a necessity rather than a luxury, be it in a well-equipped city or some far-flung rural village and so has Google maps. Especially in a developing country like Nepal, the internet is booming and so are its several uses and positive aspects. But I was surprised to know how underrepresented is the rural area of Nepal in terms of the use of the google maps. A few years back I was amazed by how google map is changing the world and making our life easier. But I was also equally disappointed because it was close to negligible in rural areas. So I started exploring rural areas on the map and even visited several places. Most of the public places and even important landmarks were missing.
Rural Municipality Office
Nepal recently went into federal system and is divided into provinces, rural and city municipalities. One of the rural municipalities; Nawarajpur Rural Municipality that I recently visited was nowhere to be represented on google map. The details were missing and even the pictures. I went to the office and shared my experience of being a local guide with the executive officer. He was amazed to know about the scenario and helped me to explore around. I took some pictures and details and immediately updated it on google maps as soon as I reached my residence. It was a beautiful experience.
Primary Health Care Centre
Health care centre is the most eminent service that is important for all. Especially in rural areas, people depend upon services provided by primary health care. But many health care centres and rural hospitals are not even represented on Google map in Nepal. I went on to visit one of the health care centre; Bhagawanpur Primary Health Centre, while on vacation and found out that the important details and pictures were missing. So as soon as I reached that health centre, I had some exchange of experience with the chief. He was very curious about Google map and told me that he had no idea that the map could be so useful for many people around. He helped me take some beautiful pictures of the hospital area so that I could update it on Google map.
Though there are many interesting things that I have done as a local guide, exploring rural Nepal has been one of the best experience so far. Local guide program has given me an interesting opportunity to explore and update rural areas of Nepal. I hope to carry on this journey even further and learn as much as I can.