"Why Google Maps gets Africa wrong"

[Kritic]

Time zones are also conventions, they have little to do with geographical reality. Just look at the time zones in Russia.

i still don't see africa's size misrepresented.

all other continents are around africa and africans need to do a better job of promoting african. europeans have done a better job in pulling the world economy as the center of the world even though geographically it's africa.

i briefly looked at flight distances last night and did see north africa is bigger than the united states. i didn't know africa was that huge. but that's my ignorance. the maps are out there showing africa's real size. ppl just don't pay attention due to africa being a third world continent.

we all just seem to care about europe because caucasians have made the world more eurocentric for their own survival. but they worked hard to achieve and maintain it. whether fairly or unfairly.

 

[mbewane]

i still don't see africa's size misrepresented.

all other continents are around africa and africans need to do a better job of promoting african. europeans have done a better job in pulling the world economy as the center of the world even though geographically it's africa.

i briefly looked at flight distances last night and did see north africa is bigger than the united states. i didn't know africa was that huge. but that's my ignorance. the maps are out there showing africa's real size. ppl just don't pay attention due to africa being a third world continent.

we all just seem to care about europe because caucasians have made the world more eurocentric for their own survival. but they worked hard to achieve and maintain it. whether fairly or unfairly.

Breh, that's, like, EXACTLY what I'm saying, people dont know Africa is that big because the map that most people see (the Mercator projection) badly misrepresents Africa's size, and it's no coincidence. Better maps exist, but most people ain't got time/interest in looking for them. And that's a reason why a lot of people still talk about Africa as if it were the same thing from Brazzaville to Lilongwe, while they wouldn't do the same for Lisbon and Athens.

 

[Black smoke and cac jokes]

It is hard to envisage Google Maps' particularity because there are no real alternatives. But imagine if all of Google's data and programming ability was suddenly in the hands of a Namibian agriculturalist, a Sahelian nomad or a Senegalese fisherwoman – the maps they would conjure up would be completely different. They might well prioritise soil types over Starbucks, wells over Walmarts and the state of land degradation over panoramic street views of American towns. But we can only imagine. As was the case a century ago, it is still just a small group of western individuals with specific views of the world who have the resources to map it.

Google is a company that is dependent on satisfying their customers so I wouldn't put them in the category of western individuals with hidden agendas. The people that use their app are people that are going to Starbucks etc so why should Google maps invest their money into exploring areas that are not helpful to their customers?​

 

[NERO]

For a long time the center of the world culturally, militarily and economically was in the middle east and northeast Africa continuing eastward to the Indus valley and beyond. In recent times,namely the last 3000 years it has shifted to Europe and then the western hemisphere with the United States. Next is the age of East Asia and Black Africa. It is only a matter of time...

 

[#1 pick]

i still don't see africa's size misrepresented.

all other continents are around africa and africans need to do a better job of promoting african. europeans have done a better job in pulling the world economy as the center of the world even though geographically it's africa.

i briefly looked at flight distances last night and did see north africa is bigger than the united states. i didn't know africa was that huge. but that's my ignorance. the maps are out there showing africa's real size. ppl just don't pay attention due to africa being a third world continent.

we all just seem to care about europe because caucasians have made the world more eurocentric for their own survival. but they worked hard to achieve and maintain it. whether fairly or unfairly.

Boy, this post almost forgets about colonialism and whites power reign over African nations as recent as 20 years ago and still in power till this day. This is a terribly misguided post.

 

[Kritic]

Boy, this post almost forgets about colonialism and whites power reign over African nations as recent as 20 years ago and still in power till this day. This is a terribly misguided post.

caucasians have made the world more eurocentric for their own survival. but they worked hard to achieve and maintain it. whether fairly or unfairly.

 

[#1 pick]

I always been a fan of your posts in general due to the fact that you have a no holds barred approach.