Google is announcing a new contest for local would-be heroes.
The Map Maker Global Competition, which challenges users to add high-quality data on universities, schools, hospitals and medical clinics in Google Map Maker, will run from December 15, 2009 to January 31, 2010. The grand prize for the user who adds the greatest quantity of data is a $50,000 UNICEF donation to the winner’s home country.
Sponsor
The winning team or user will moreover receive a VIP tour from UNICEF officials of the local projects that will benefit from the donation as well as an all-expenses-paid trip to the Google Super Mappers 2010 conference. Top mapping contributors will appear on Google Map Maker and ultimately on Google Maps.
Google’s Map Maker shows users satellite images and asks them to add data to make actually useful maps. These “citizen cartographers” can add directions, streets, schools and more; data is subject to peer moderation. The app is available in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Romanian, and Vietnamese and in more than 170 countries.
UNICEF rep Gerrit Beger told Google, “We know that mapping is a proven method to enhance community development. Google Map Maker is a powerful tool to create better situational awareness for both young people and communities at large. It will enable organizations like ours to better deliver services, respond to crises and adapt to change.”
Google has also just wrapped up a similar competition focusing on Latin America. In that event, more than 50 teams from all over the world participated, which led to a 500 percent increase in mapping activity for several Latin American countries.
Related posts:
- Google Launches Building Maker: Makes Adding 3D Buildings to Google Earth Easy For some locations, Google already shows 3D buildings in Google...
- Microsoft: Do The Right Thing And Give Xbox 360 Gamerooms To Four Hospitals Did you know Microsoft has teamed up with the Children’s...
- Zyxio Announces Winners For “Be A Mind Blower” Contest We recently wrote about Zyxio, a startup that has...
- Google To Announce Major Identity Initiative for 1 Million+ Companies and Schools Google plans to announce in coming weeks that it is...
- Google Maps Ditches TeleAtlas in Favor of Street View Cars and Crowdsourcing After a flurry of activity around Google Maps over the...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.