Residents of Lesotho can now engage Google Maps to edit the map of the country. Cartographers have also been called upon to represent the country.
During the Map Maker Africa Regional conference in Nigeria, the Map Maker for Lesotho was released making it easier to edit and add features to the pre-existing one.
“This marks an important milestone, as the Map Maker tool now enables volunteer mappers to update and edit the entire continent of Africa,” Evans Arabu, Map Maker community team said.
He added that , “Whether adding new businesses, outlining building footprints, fixing road geometries or even tracing a favorite cycling route, citizen cartographers have joined together to create the most comprehensive maps of the world as seen on Google Maps and Google Earth.”
In recent times, Google has concentrated on upgrading its map features especially in Africa. Just recently, Google maps upgraded its walking direction aspect for selected countries including Kenya.
These sensitivity to Africa has seen more companies and startups start to take Google maps seriously as part of their product.
There have been other competitors in the market though. MapIT has also entered the East African market bringing competition with Google maps.
MapIT has been in existence for 10 years now. The company started as a data provide in South Africa. It now covers 104 countries and has more than 38.4 million kilometres of road coverage worldwide.
MapIT insists that it is up for partnership rather than competition with Google maps. Though this is yet to be seen. The perceived competition in a neglected market might be the reason Google has stepped up its products in Africa.
This development will in addition help, app developers who uses Google maps to expand their offering to more countries in Africa.
