Since I had my first smartphone and discovered Google maps, I have been quite obsessed with it and why not? Using Google maps was like a revelation, it made me see my environment and indeed the world from a new perspective. Google has some of the largest libraries of anything you want to find on Earth, you name it and they probably already got it.
I remember showing off google maps as a teacher to my pupils (in a Junior high school) during a basic science class a few years ago and we were all wowed till someone said “excuse me sir, why is my street nameless?” It was a question I had no answer to. Subsequent uses of the maps showed Google was not omniscient after all. Many places in my town were either obsolete, misrepresented or completely absent. This was a huge bother to me as I depended heavily on Google maps to navigate areas where I had never been before so one could imagine how I felt a few years later when I found out that I could edit the maps in the newer editions that were subsequently released.
I love sharing my environment, the market I go to, schools and the health facilities I have used (or have been to) etc. These places look dull and dreary on the map so I want to help bring them to life as only a local can. I want to try let the world see these places through my eyes and help make the maps more accurate.
This is because I am from a third world country like Nigeria where there are a lot of spaces on the maps that needs to be filled (and filled accurately). Google, as I earlier pointed, may have the best map library around but it is not omniscient. With the rise in the affordability of smartphones, a lot of people are now heavily dependent on Google maps to get around. This is why I post to Google, it has got the widest reach and I know that I would be helping more people by using this platform and it’s not about me, Google maps and the rest of the world need everyone with a decent camera and a smartphone to help make the a better and smaller place to navigate.
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