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?

I live in Lahore and own a 1.8L model Toyota Corolla Altis that I bought in 2007. Whenever I need to get my car serviced, instead of going to the local Toyota Ravi workshop which is a 3 min drive down the road from my house, I prefer to go to Toyota Walton which is a 50 min drive at the other end of the city in Lahore. On a round-trip, I’m traveling an extra 1 hr 34 min extra per trip, and that’s not counting the extra fuel mileage costs. Why? So what is that makes me put up with the extra time and cost? The reason is very simple: customer service which something that most companies in Pakistan take for granted.

On a relative scale – at least compared to Toyota Ravi – Toyota Walton in Defence, Lahore, have a much better customer service environment:

• They actually have a decent, respectable customer waiting lounge which is air-conditioned and where customers are served free tea/coffee and can watch TV.
• They have an Internet-connected PCs so you can do some Web browsing while your car gets fixed.
• The customer service staff is attentive and actually listens to customer complaints and suggestions.
• The staff and overall environment is much more professional and courteous.

That’s not to say that their service is perfect, but they provide a good service. And, of course, there’s always room for improvement.

I personally take my car to get serviced which inevitably means going during normal working hours because that’s when the workshop is open. A job at the workshop can take anywhere from 1-4 hours. Now that’s a lot of time for a busy professional like myself and it’s very hard to spare the time to get such chores done.

Even though Toyota Walton provides Internet-enabled computers for customers, it would be much more convenient if I could work at the workshop using my own laptop. This in turn means that I would need wireless (aka Wi-fi) Internet connectivity. In the past, more than a year ago actually, I gave a suggestion to Mr. Javed, the Customer Services Manager, to provide a wireless Internet connection facility for customers so that they can use a device/laptop at ease. The investment, if any at all, would amount to only Rs. 3-4K which is peanuts. Mr. Javed, to his credit, was very sympathetic to this suggestion and duly processed the request, but unfortunately it got lost in the process and nothing came of it.

A few months ago, when I visited the Toyota Walton workshop, I came across the owner Mr. Sharik. I gave him the suggestion for Wi-Fi facility for customers. I explained to him the benefits and productivity gains that such a facility would provide to his customers like myself. He enthusiastically listened to my suggestion, understood the point, and committed to providing this facility within a month.

Today, when I visited the workshop for a regular car tuneup, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the wireless Internet facility for customers was up and running. In fact, this blog post has been possible with that facility. Better still, when there was a power outage due to loadshedding, the wireless connection was on UPS backup and carried on working. Having the Wi-Fi facility for my laptop is a boon: I feel liberated and unshackled by having the flexibility of continuing working even when I’m out of my office and home. It makes me satisfied and makes for a great customer experience. Would I recommend Toyota Walton: Absolutely!

Thank you Mr. Javed and Mr. Sharik for keeping the promise and paying attention to your customers.

Takeaway Points:

(1) Small improvements to customer service, like the one by Toyota Walton highlighted above, make a big difference to the overall customer experience. It’s one that makes a customer like me willing to travel and pay extra to avail a better service. Businesses would do well to actively pay heed to their customers’ needs.

(2) A company’s internal processes and quality system should be strong and mature enough that no customer request gets missed or unattended. This also means that customer needs should be adequately attended without having to approach the business proprieter/CEO.

(3) Customers, consumers, or whatever you want to call them, need to stop behaving like sheep and putting up with shoddy services that companies shove onto them; they need to constantly make their voice heard and DEMAND better services.

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.