MUBS AFRICA MAPUP EVENT IS BACK

     Majority of us have definitely made use of Google Maps to find new locations, get directions especially when going to a place we have never been. But question is, as a user of Google Maps do you know who adds locations to maps so that you can find your way around?

One may think there is an army of people on payroll doing this but there exists an elaborate community of mappers i.e. individuals who voluntarily and regularly add locations to Google Maps. The most interesting part of this is that anyone can join the community and it is fairly simple. All you have to do is familiarize yourself with the tool of trade, which is of course Google Map Maker, an easy to use but powerful tool which you can use to carry out mapping.

    The Africa map up week was a Google Africa ini­ti­at­ive that saw Uni­ver­sity stu­dents across the Sub-​Sahara Africa region through their Google Stu­dent Ambas­sad­ors on cam­pus organ­ize an all week map­ping of their Uni­ver­sit­ies and dif­fer­ent aca­demic insti­tu­tions around them. Map­ping involves adding and updat­ing inform­a­tion about loc­a­tions and places on Google Maps using tools such as Google Map Maker and this has been opened up to col­lab­or­at­ive online com­munit­ies with the aim of acquir­ing suf­fi­cient and high qual­ity data on exist­ing loc­a­tions. Any­one can join the com­munity to help enhance Google maps. 

   The Africa Map-​Up Week took place on 10^th to 14^th Septem­ber. 

Makerere University Business School held its mapping event on 17th September 2012where students added places on the map around MUBS and Inside the University. The Google Stu­dent Ambas­sad­ors  Ssebandeke Ashiraf and Gashumba Michael who led stu­dents in a hands-​on train­ing on how to use Google Map Maker and also in car­ry­ing out map­ping. The event proved to be a great plat­form for shar­ing ideas on tech­no­logy and using simple tech­no­lo­gies avail­able to stu­dents to cre­ate an impact in their communities.

Those who attended were thrilled by the experience and were eager to participate in more upcoming events. They also requested for more time for the mapping and some went as far as trying to map areas from their home districts.

Kakembo Alex “You should add more hours at least the whole day otherwise i have learnt more and it was a nice experience.”

Njeri Louis Maina “I am happy to have learnt something new and valuable today i appreciate Google’s efforts in extending its products to university people”

Nakibuuka Bitijuma “Its really exciting all along i thought putting a place on a map was for computer science and IT guys but me as a business student i can also put a new place”

Tumusiime Ronald “am thrilled by Google mapping experience and i will continue mapping my home district Ntungamo”

 At the end of the exercise more than 60 places were put on map and more edits were made to the areas which were wrongly mapped before.

The areas surrounding MUBS were placed on map and these include hostels, restaurants, bus stops, police stations. Almost all stages in the Nakawa Taxi park were mapped including different stages and offices.

Happy to be a mapper: Students and staff after the event

Hajara (Business Computing student) with a mapmaker T-shirt

Students adding new places on the map

Snapshot of MUBS satelite image

The mapping event is back. This time its going to take place on 1st June 2013 at MUBS Annex Bugolobi ICT Centre Labs. To be part of this event please register on the form below to book your place

Book your place here