New York — The Internet is growing exponentially and what is called the virtual world is becoming dynamic for addressing everyday life and it is time for Ghanaian businesses to get online and do business. Google has announced the launch of Google Maps in Ghana and 29 other African countries where it was not previously available.
Google’s Maps is one of its most former products and certainly one of the most known. It has been around for years and in some places, the information it provides is extensive. And this will make it possible for businesses in Ghana that do not have websites to have web presence.
“Individuals and businesses can create their own maps, put up a picture, the addresses of their businesses and even products,” says Estelle Akofio-Sowah, Google Ghana Office Lead.
Africa, as you can imagine, was not high on Google’s list of places to buy mapping data for. Luckily, the company can rely on the aid of its users who have been a ton of information through Map Maker. So much information in fact that Google is now launching Maps for 30 African countries, in beta, and also opening up the service for businesses.
“Our big announcement today is that we are launching Maps domains for 30 countries across Africa. So what is on offer? As well as searching online Maps for towns, highways, or roads, Google Maps users can now find local businesses. This could be a burger place in Lagos, a garage in Kampala, a hairdresser in Accra or an airport shuttle in Dakar,” Joe Mucheru, Google Sub Saharan Africa, and Jarda Bengl, Product Manager at Google, wrote.
With Google Maps launching domains for 30 more countries, that means not only scenery and roads for these countries, but also local business listings, which can drive a lot of business to brick and mortars. Search engines have all but replaced print yellow pages for many people, and businesses in these countries should feel the effects of that as the listings grow.
Relying largely on crowdsourcing and the MapMaker tool, the maps includes searching for towns, highways, and roads. Finding local businesses is now readily available to African Internet users, extending to mobile as well.
“One of the things we spend a lot of time thinking about at Google is how we can make the world’s information more accessible and useful to people all over the globe,” Google says. “This includes providing rich local geographic data because, after all, a huge number of search queries have a geographic component. Our efforts to start putting Africa on a map kicked off back in 2009 when we announced the launch of Google Maps for Kenya. Not long after-words, we announced that users across 45 African countries could build and edit maps in Map Maker. Most recently, we launched Google Maps for South Africa.”
The Google Africa Blog further explains:
The Google team also hearkened back to the MapMaker tool, where any user can create or edit map data, ranging from schools to local businesses, national parks to taxi stops. Admitting that inhabitants know the local area better than they do, Google encourages using MapMaker since also it is used as a reference for governments, universities, and entrepreneurs. It helps gain a visual picture for planning activity and projects that will be worked on in those markets.
Ms. Akofio-Sowah said the maps can also be used to present mortality rates in the country and provide statistical data in pictorial forms.
“You can even download the whole map and work on it offline, using your own creativity,” she said.
Most Ghanaians who use mobile phones that are web or Internet compatible can actually determine their positions wherever they stood, because the product works with a GPS system.
For some of the Ghanaian businesses that think that the Internet is not yet a ready place to do business, this product will change that thinking because it would offer the advantage of global visibility and global branding advantage.
Ms. Akofio-Sowah, however declined to say how much it is costing Google to launch this product.