The local ‘wise men’ that provide Google’s knowledge in Nigeria

Once upon a time, when trying to find an unknown place one had to make frequent stops and ask people for directions, fingers crossed the people being asked would not be in the mood for mischief and send one in the opposite direction.

Since Google maps became a thing, and mobile devices became more readily available to get the navigations done, it has gone from merely providing directions, to also serve as an adventure/vacation companion, and a way of finding critical facilities such as medical centres and police stations in terms of emergencies.

However, many people may have wondered how Google has been able to populate the map with all the vast navigational information it has. Behind the scenes are men and women who can be likened to heroes, having their paid jobs and professional careers yet volunteering to populate the Google maps for others to use.

In December, 2019, Sagir Adamu a fire-fighter with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Lagos received an email from Google, which according to him indicated his contributions to Google Maps have helped about 1.5 million people. Adamu is certainly not a Google employee, at least not as at June when we had a zoom call.

“I became a local guide by accident but I later realized that this is something that I can use to help my community,” said Adamu. Currently a Level 10 guide, having accumulated over 100,000 points since 2017, he has focused on mapping medical facilities across Nigeria.

“I created my Niche because I noticed most of the medical facilities and emergency centres are not well mapped,” he said. This, he says prompted him to ensure that anywhere he has passed through in over 3 years now, he would as much as possible ensure medical facilities are well mapped (unless he did not see them).

While he contributes to other aspects of the Google maps, he has paid special attention to ensuring medical facilities are well mapped. Like thousands of other Google guides, his contributions may have helped someone in distress locate a medical facility or even just good old not getting lost in an unfamiliar environment.

Being a traveller himself, Adamu had often used Google Maps to find his way around new places. “I used to see some pop-up messages asking me to write a review about a place I visited or I should upload a picture of the place,” he said. At other times, he saw questions about places he visited and would answer. However, in December 2016, he got an email asking if he would like to become a local guide, helping his community and making impact through his not so little contributions.

Adamu, according to his count has mapped not less than 1000 medical facilities, not just in Lagos where he is based but also in other places when he travels. An indigene of Gombe state, whenever he travels home or elsewhere, his attention is shared between getting to his destination and mapping the various landmarks along the way; especially medical facilities.

38 years-old and married with three children, he would sometimes take his children along when going mapping. “We take the mapping as community service”, he said. He belongs to a group of local guides that actively advocate wheelchair availability in facilities based on observations it is hardly available in Nigerian facilities.

By virtue of his current level, he has twice been invited to the Local Guides flagship event in the U.S., but could not make the trip on both occasions, as he could not secure Visas.

Sanya Oluwadare, a business owner who has managed a brand and marketing company for over 12 years has also been a local guide for about 4 years, and focuses more on putting small businesses, police stations and hospitals on the map.

Each had a different motivation and Oluwadare was eager to share. “My own niche is actually putting businesses (on the map) because I am a business owner. I enjoy seeing other businesses being on Google maps,” he said. However, while participating in a certain ‘map your world event’ by Google, they were told of a particular NGO through which there were able to get them to focus on putting hospitals and police stations online.

“The idea is, there are people who have suffered abuse in one way or the other but don’t know where or who to go to,” Oluwadare said.

Looking at his profile on Google maps during the interview, Oluwadare was able to disclose he had made 79,708 contributions and accumulated 247,355 points as at June when the interview was conducted. From this, his contributions have been accessed 88,687,017 times; and this he stated was only for his uploaded photos.

“Let me set the record straight, Google will not give you any cash,” Oluwadare said. “If there’s any other motivation, it is the fact that my contributions have earned me my three all expense paid trips to the US”.

Attending a Google event was his first time ever out of Nigeria in 2017. Sharing a joke, he said; I have a nine-year old daughter. She was looking through my cloud album. She was like “oh, my daddy has friends all over the world.”

“Those are the things that money can’t buy. I’m in a position now that if I takeoff now and say I’m going to Singapore, I’m confident that there will be a local guide who can ease the stress of how I’m going to find my way around,” he said.

Samson Mosilily, has run a digital marketing firm for 8 years but helping Nigerians and tourists find parks, gardens and tourist centres across Nigeria has been a favourite past time of his as a local guide.

“My special area of interest is taking 360 photos. Have you heard about street view? I take a lot of 360 photos for businesses around Lagos and Nigeria to give them enough exposure and visibility,” he said.

If for example, a person wants to visit a place like Gurara waterfalls, he explained that still images do not give that particular tourist attraction the best view. However, with 360 photos one can see the whole environment and anyone that searches for Gurara waterfalls and wants to visit can have a feeling of the whole environment, how the waterfall looks like, the ambience and everything. This, too, he does for other businesses like Spas, parks, gardens and others.

Demonstrating his commitment, Mosilily even got himself a 360 camera that he uses in mapping places. “I bought it with my own money. This is what I use to take the 360 photos,” he emphasised.

The 29-year-old does not mind not being paid; saying the reason for his commitment is borne out of a desire to show Nigerian communities and attractions to the world. So far, he is convinced that he has been able to tell a lot of stories about different parts of the country, which he believes are good pointers to places tourists; local and foreign, should endeavour to visit.

“You can’t get paid for being a local guide,” says Google in a web post too, further describing it as a volunteering program that you can share your knowledge about places you visit on Google Maps.

Local guides also organise meet-ups, mostly during weekends. In February, one group started mapping all medical facilities from Ikeja Under bridge area. They park their vehicles, share themselves into groups and go mapping.

There are many ways to contribute on Google Map. Local guides can edit a place, add a place, write a review about a place or upload a picture that has been visited. Contributors can also answer a question about a place and they can fact check contributions made by other local guides.

There are points allocated for each contribution and getting 100,000 points to become a Level 10 guide with all the perks that come with it could be a rewarding experience after years of selfless contributions. Volunteers like Mosilily, Oluwadare, and Adamu are some of the heroes behind the scene, feeding Google maps with what appears to be an infinite well of knowledge.