I’ve always had a keen interest in location-based services. Back in the summer of 2008, when there were were no Google Maps or Google Map Maker, I developed a prototype location-based app. In November 2008, I organized World Usability Day 2008 where we highlighted Google Map Maker for Pakistan by featuring a live video conference from India with its creator Lalit Katragadda. Fast forward to 2010, and Lahore is now the fastest mapped city in the world using Google Map Maker. Amazing.

Many parts of Lahore and Pakistan have been mapped providing a lot of value to citizens and organizations within the country. But a lot more still needs to be done and improved upon. So it was with this aim that Saturday’s event was organized: to create mainstream awareness about Google Map Maker and also discuss some of the social and technical challenges involved in making Google Maps a better service.

The event consisted of the following main activities and was well-worth attending if you’re interested in location-based services, urban planning, and maps:

• An general introduction to Google Maps by Badar Khushnood
• An open-ended question-answer-comments session
• A presentation by Khurram and Sarah, an urban planner and designer, on how location based info can help in providing social services
• A hands-on labs with practical guidance on using Google Map Maker

…followed by a post event dinner.

And now onto some aspects of the event that I’d like to highlight:

Google Mapping Champs
Faraz and Jabran – two young chaps from Pakistan have done a huge number of edits on Google Maps. In fact, as far as I know, Faraz has the largest number of edits: a staggering 48,000 of them!! (he also happens to be in residing in my former hometown: Glasgow, UK). I wish the promotional leaflet for Google Map Maker distributed at the event would feature Faraz’s record holding 48,000 edits instead of some person’s measly 6,000 edits. (Yes, some people actually read promotional leaflets – see image on RHS)

National and Political Issues
There were some passionate discussions on who owns the data on Google Maps that is being provided by Pakistani volunteers and what if Google switches the service off. Personally, I really think it’s a pertinent question (but one that was not within the scope of the event). What if? After all, Google is a private enterprise, and it’s in the business of making money (albeit not in an ‘evil’ way), and its incorporated in the US, and governed by US laws, and subservient to US courts. What if the US authorities, one fine day, find it politically expedient and necessary that Pakistan should not have access to its maps? Ever heard of the ‘Axis of Evil’? Now, that might sound a bit paranoid, but its certainly a possibility.

A Suggestion for Improving Google Maps
Now that’s the big question – how to improve the service? Answer: Obviously, by improving the density of information. How can that be done? Here’s one possible model: The event (mapping party) held on Saturday was really a general purpose event that covered a number of different topics and aspects of the Google Maps service. To increase the density of information, what is really needed are more localized events organized at the mohalla (neighbourhood) level in collaboration with local people. And these events should be held all over Pakistan, focusing on small cities, towns, even villages. A day-long event focused just on the actual activity of mapping by a group of local people is the way to go. And then repeating this exercise in different places on a nation-wide level. In the years’ to come, this will pay off in a real big way for the public of Pakistan and probably monetarily for Google too.

I hope someone from Google or elsewhere can take the above idea forward. I’m personally ready to volunteer for this. Any Googlers and Mappers listening?

Social Media 101: An Introduction to Blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter

• Time/Date: Wed, 11:30am-1pm, 16 Sep’ 2009
• Venue: Interaction Design Center, South Block
• Instructors: Imran Hussain, Adnan Ali
• Registration Cost: FREE (for UMT staff only)

Overview

• What is Social Media?
• Why does Social Media matter?
• How can I use Social Media in my personal and professional life?

This workshop will take a look at the basic concepts and benefits of social media. In particular, the workshop will provide an introduction to popular tools and technologies that are currently being used in the social media space, such as blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter. The workshop will be interactive and discussion-based.

Audience
This workshop is intended for those who have no, or beginner-level, knowledge of social media tools.

I recently (29 May 2009 to be precise) conducted a session on Usability Testing and Analytical Evaluation as part of the Software Quality Assurance Workshop organized by the Rausing Executive Development Center at LUMS, Lahore.

This workshop was organized for software project managers and IT professionals. More thoughts about this workshop later.

European Design Since 1985 is a design exhibition organized by IMA.

This exhibition is the first critical survey of contemporary Western European decorative and industrial design, organized by IMA Design Curator R. Craig Miller. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue present 250 seminal works including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, glass and product design that reveal the extraordinary creativity of two generations of designers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, Spain and the United Kingdom. European Design Since 1985 reflects an important initiative by the IMA in the area of 20th- and 21st-century design. The project, which has required six years of extensive research, has been organized in cooperation with the Denver Art Museum and Kingston University, London.

A video podcast is also available on iTunes.

The World Usability Day 2008 was organized for the first time ever in Pakistan by the Interaction Design Center, in collaboration with Google, Octara, and Obscure, at the UMT campus in Lahore on November 13, 2008. The purpose was to create awareness in Pakistan about the importance of designing products and services that are both user-friendly and useful. This year’s theme was transportation.

The aim of the event was to kickstart a usability and design thinking movement throughout the country. It was an enthusiastic turnout with more than 200+ attendees from across the city of Lahore. One the highlights of the event was Google’s first ever video-conferenced based seminar in Pakistan, along with a live Internet broadcast of the entire event.

Thanks to the City42 team for providing the video clip and a very special thanks to Arif Ansari (Octara/TCS), Badar Khushnood (Google), and Adnan Ali (UMT/ClickChain) for making the event a tremendous success.