

Why Google Maps gets Africa wrong - PhilipA
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/02/google-maps-gets-africa-wrong

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maxerickson
This paragraph:

 _It is hard to envisage Google Maps ' particularity because there are no real
alternatives. But imagine if all of Google's data and programming ability was
suddenly in the hands of a Namibian agriculturalist, a Sahelian nomad or a
Senegalese fisherwoman – the maps they would conjure up would be completely
different. They might well prioritise soil types over Starbucks, wells over
Walmarts and the state of land degradation over panoramic street views of
American towns. But we can only imagine. As was the case a century ago, it is
still just a small group of western individuals with specific views of the
world who have the resources to map it._

is sort of strange. It misses the fact that various countries in Africa have
active digital mapping projects. Here's Namibia more or less doing what he
suggests:

[http://www.nsa.org.na/33/10/Mapping/](http://www.nsa.org.na/33/10/Mapping/)

Of course it isn't at the same scale as Google Maps, but then, it doesn't need
to be.

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gus_massa
I read this as a spin attempt of multiculturalism. Try to feel good because
he’s the only one that doesn’t see the word with the “western” cultural
glasses.

All maps have bias. These maps have a “city” bias. Some information is more
useful for some kind of people.

It’s possible to use the same paragraph with examples of Americans farmers
from the states with more rural areas. If you only have a small subsistence
farm, and almost never go to the nearest city that is 200 miles away, then you
probably don’t care about the localization of the Starbucks. (Or perhaps you
like Starbucks, and you already know the stores in the two nearest cities and
don’t need the map.)

~~~
maxerickson
The cultural glasses thing was much of what I found strange. It's extremely
ironic to write from that perspective and then blatantly state something
doesn't exist just because you don't know about it.

The author also doesn't seem to be aware that Google gets a lot of data from
people working more locally (by purchasing it or whatever).

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Bpal
Wow, Google Maps compared to iconography, that's new. It made me start
thinking on how the information that we get online shapes our outlook. Yeah,
we don't really search for wells or natural water reservoirs (what if some
disaster happens), but mainly for Malls, Starbucks and ATMs, lol. Some
countries have to rewrite books on History to let their people see the world
as they want them to see, and Google Maps make so for the whole world and we
take it for granted. Can Google cartographers pay some attention to water and
mineral supplies for example? So we can select which type of online map to
see.

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ZeroGravitas
Surprised not to see any mention of OpenStreetMap, which is currently doing
almost exactly what the author is looking for.

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JoeAltmaier
...for some values of 'wrong'

