I have always loved Geography in my high school days. Besides, my father had his National Diploma in Geography. But in my final 3 years, we had no Geography teacher, hence I had to study on my own. The most challenging part of the examinations was the Geography practical paper, that will require all students to carry out ‘Map Reading’- answering questions about a given area only by studying the map.
Fortunately, this sparked my interest in maps, and with God, I had the score A3(now graded as B3) in Geography.
Since then, I study the map like my Bible anytime I want to travel to a new location and because I drive myself, I use hardcopy maps, until mobile phones became available in my country Nigeria. I stumbled on Google maps, and have made several hundreds of trips in the last decade or so, all wit the help of Google Maps. I am able to know my way through a new city, check out reviews on hotels and make reservations before I start the journey. What a relief that can be to travellers.
I observed that the maps had options for reviews and I started doing so about 2 years ago for the fun of it and to contribute to society. I never knew Google maps award points for such and over a 2 year period, I am now a Level 5 Local Guide.
Even today, I visited and area of my town (Benin, Nigeria) I have never been to before and I got there with Google Maps Navigation. I even suggested edits of the environment as what I saw was slightly different from what’s available on the map.
Again, I say, thank you Google for making a difference, adding value to life and making travelling easier.