November 2006
Monthly Archive
Monthly Archive
Maurizio 12 Nov 2006 | : GPS, Google Earth, Virtual Globes
More than 6 years of efforts by the Tracks4Africa community (www.tracks4africa.com) have today culminated with the release of a Tracks4Africa layer on Google Earth.The T4A layer was been compiled using only GPS tracklogs contributed by the T4A community: it covers the whole African continent and it has been recognized by Google as world class data suitable to go alongside very high resolution imagery. MadMappers is proud in the small contribution given to this remarkable mapping exercise. Due to the nature of this voluntary effort data coverage is excellent in some places but less so in others.We invite everyone with a GPS to join this pan African mapping initiative aimed at creating a popular African GIS culture where everyone can give a contribution towards the re-mapping of Africa. To contribute: e-mail your GPS tracklog at the end of your journey.
Please note that this initiative is not aimed at mapping major urban centres (often for cities very good quality data already exists) but rather to put on the map rural roads and tracks (together with a road surface description)
Some examples of the T4A layer in East Africa:
Dar Es Salaam
Serengeti
Killimanjaro
Addis Abeba
To access the T4A layer on Google Earth activate “Tracks4Africa” within “Layers” > “Primary database” > “Featured Content” i.e. where the National Geographic layer is.
More instructions are available at “T4A Maps on Google Earth”
To the T4A guys: well done!