They (View their names here) are experts from diverse field interested
in using technology to drive social change – in this case, they are to add
thousands of places – Hospitals, Schools, Government and Private offices to
Google Maps using the “easy to use” Google Map Maker. Referred to as the “crowd”
they came into Abuja from different parts of Nigeria to join in a one week of
mapping exercise tagged “#AbujaMapUp from January 26 – February 2, 2013. “I saw the
message on twitter and I decided to follow up with the programme” said Kenneth
Ogwo based in Lagos.
 |
| Group Photo of participants at the training |
Kick starting the event on January 26, 2013 was training on
Map Making at the International Womens’ Center where about 80 of the 140
registered participants were present. Gracing the session were representatives
from Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGOF), Abuja GeographicInformation System (AGIS), National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), National Biotechnology Development Agency, Federal Capital DevelopmentAuthority (FCDA), British High Commission, Life Impact Foundation International
and a list of others from the private sector. The training session was opened by
Adepoju Abiodun (Google Student Ambassador for Nigeria) presenting what Google
is doing in Africa followed by several ignites talks on different forms of
mapping. “It’s quite interesting, I just added two places on Google maps”
exclaimed Nnodim Rose Blossom while Onochie Mokwunye said “I have started
adding places with the aid of my mobile phone GPS device, this has been quite
revealing”.
 |
| Okwunwa Godwin (NEMA), Uzowulu Williams(NEMA and Fawole Yetunde(FCDA) joining to Map Wuse |
On Tuesday, January 29, 2013, the participants were grouped
into different teams, armed with printed satellite imagery of areas they are
familiar with. While they move from one street to another, they tag each
building on the imageries, inserted and adjusted roads, which they were able to
upload on their various laptops when they get back to their convergence where
wireless internet is been provided. This was the routine for four days! “It was
fun mapping my area, I enjoyed it” said the 18 year-old Python Programmer,
Prince Robert Chetachukwu, a secondary school student of the Gwarinpa Senior
secondary School in Jabi. “I never knew my business can be open to the world
online for free, please let me know when goes live – you are making history” said
an excited Mr Jude, owner of Newton Parks and Resorts at Wuse Zone 4
As the team move from Tetrazzini, Wuse Zone 3; Salamander,
Wuse 2; Mr Biggs, Jabi and Drumstix, Gwarinpa Estate as meeting points, making
it easier for locales to add businesses online could expose illegal businesses,
too. “I am terrified” said Esther Agbarakwe , who raised fear about security of
Mappers, and how illegal business owners can be hostile when they see teams
taking notes. Not only did this exercise brought like minds in the non-profit
and private sector, it brought government officials too who shared their
concerns about the exercise, with even AGIS willing to release their data to
the team. What does this imply? It means a whole lot of collaboration and
partnership is envisaged between these communities – but who will initiate this
bold step? We will see in coming days!
 |
| Participants adding points from paper maps to Map Maker at Tetrazzini, Conakry Street, Wuse Zone 3 |
On Saturday, February 2, 2013 the team decided to go “OPEN”
and have fun at the Millennium Park after days of intense mapping. An evening
to share ideas, lessons learnt and experiences. “As I have been able to map
lots of places, for me, it was an opportunity to contribute back to my community
and for the first time I feel involved and the only challenge is the security
situation in the country” said Blossom, a new media expert. “It has been an
awesome experience seeing people putting their community on the map of the
world, while drawback remains the unavailability of a tech hub or lab where the
team could converge and populate points easily” said Iyke Maduako, a geospatial
expert. “The experience is quite wonderful, prior to now, I never believed
those points on Google maps and Google Earth is been added by people like
myself, moving forward, I believe more traditional awareness should be
initiated to get people to know about mapping” said Omoleye Gbenga, a
Calligrapher
 |
| AbujaMapUp Team at the Millennium Park |
As these young Nigerians – “crowd” add their names to the
history of their community, the biggest challenge remains keeping them
together. Out rightly, lots of potentials lies within them – Journalists, Geospatial
Experts, Data Wranglers, Computer Programmers, Emergency Managers and
Development Consultants. How best can Nigeria utilize the energy within this
community? Lest I forget, someone told me they will be coming together again on
March 2, 2013 at Salamander, Wuse 2, perhaps, this might keep the community
together!
Read More Stories about the #AbujaMapUp on Voice of America and Global Post
