It all began when I went to Taiwan for a robotics competition. I used to participate in several robotic and AI conferences for university research. I was in Brasil, China, Germany, Czechia, Austria, and Japan with my colleagues but this one was different.
I was all alone and nobody comes along. When we are with friends, we always make the decision in the group even for small things like where to eat, what to eat, where we can have some fun at nights and etc.
Everything is fine and enjoyable as long as you are with your friends and having fun.
It’s all changes when you’re solo. You are on your own to choose what to eat, where you go and simply what to do. As I was there for a conference, I didn’t have that much of time and, I wanted to make the most of it. So I start planning…
Step 1: (The easy one)
At bedtime, I start searching, surfing web pages and blogs, watching youtube videos and make a list of all the places that I want to be. It was quite easy and fun, I only considered three things:
- Is it fun for me?
- Can I afford the cost?
- How much time does it take?
Step 2: (The hard one, … oh no, wait, the one that seems to be hard)
Ok…, I had a long list, but no idea about what I have to do, so many places in my list but not so much time in my hand.
So you know where it is going, the thing that finished this disaster was Google Map!
It helps me to find the working-hours of places, the best route and its cost, the crowdedness over time and so many other information that you probably know them better than me.
So it was almost the plan, but one thing was missing, actual people that can give me an actual opinion, practical tips and offers without trying to promote something or make it cooler.
The images, comments, and facts from amazing people that shared their experiences were the best thing I could found. They saved a lot of time and money for me, and make it possible to be in all the places that I loved.
Next, before I came back to my country, Iran, I went to Turkey and had a whole week stay. At first, I was so nervous but having internet access was the only thing that I needed to feel safe again like when I’m with my friends!
So What was I supposed to do, I had a feeling that I should repay this favor. I had these remarkable experiences and adventure that would not be possible without amazing people that cared about others and shared so many honest experiences.
And that’s the reason, I start spending time and share my adventure, facts and any sort of information or images that I had from there.
One Last Word:
As an AI researcher, my life is working with technologies and applications. I always have a worry about the technologies consequence, but without a doubt, Google Map made my trip more awesome as it could be and without this technology, most of it wasn’t even happen.
I really appreciate all the efforts and works that was done both from the developers and users. I can definitely say that Google Map made the world a better place.