Map Maker Islamabad, Pakistan

At the AAG this year in Las Vegas there was a lot of talk on the power of the crowd, the ethics of profiteering from volunteered geographic information and various other deep discussions on what on earth is happening now the general public is able to make maps.

We are not going to delve into the debate at the moment due to a distinct lack of coffee on our part and a need to sit back and have a bit of a rethink on the whole Neogeography thing.



That said, we do really like the timelapse movies that are possible out of Google's Map Maker initiative, embedded above is Islamabad, Pakistan.

Google Map Maker Timelapse

Google Map Maker is a Google Maps service that allows users to add or edit features, such as roads, businesses, parks, schools and more. It is a classic Web 2.0 methodology to map the regions of the world that are not already covered by the Google Maps and we kind of like it.

The timelapse video below illustrates Madurai, India being mapped:



Only certain regions of the world are available to edit/map, for obvious reaons, a complete list of areas can be found on the Map Maker site.

The next video details Nicosia, Cyprus:



Google explains the concept of Map Maker below:



Its quick, easy, moderated and provides a publicly viewable basemap in areas where mapping maybe limited. If you are logging in from a part of the world not covered by Google Maps then Google Map Maker is well worth a look...