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Monday, June 16. 2008

Google Commissioned New Kenya Data for Google Maps

Ed Parsons noted the "interesting story" behind new data Google Maps for Kenya on his blog a few days ago. The data appeared just 10 months after the company opened the office in country.The story (Network World) is this:

The map was developed by a team of seven students from three Kenyan universities together with a team from India. Replacing a previously limited online map of four highways, the move has now placed Kenya on the level of other countries served by Google Maps.


I asked for "the rest of the story" and Ed obliged. In particular I wanted to know about who was behind the effort and who therefore owned the new detailed data. He responded: "Google commissioned the work and owns the data, and yes I think this is a big deal."

I think it's a big deal, too. Ed noted that this is not the first time Google has "commissioned" street level data nor will it be the last.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google at 06:00 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) | Bookmark and Share

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I'm surprised that its a big deal for Google to own the data. Typically Google has been happier managing or enabling access to other peoples' data than owning it.

To me the big deal is that Google is will to step ouside of its comfort zone to generate base mapping, because they have clearly identified that this is a critcal step in enabling people to build an accurate "GeoWeb".

I have some concerns about the walled garden effect if people are using Google MyMaps to generate this information, but if they are publishing to open formats such as KML then this concern becomes less pressing.
#1 Jason Birch (Link) on 2008-06-16 18:21 (Reply)
That's cool about Kenia! Where and when Can I find it?
#2 BALLY (Link) on 2008-06-17 01:51 (Reply)

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