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- Offers $3m grant for education in underserved areas
Technology firm, Google has extended its street view navigation system to four more cities in Nigeria after Lagos.
The newly mapped cities are Abuja, Benin City, Enugu and Ibadan. The street view navigation system enables people to see ground-level images of city streets, real estate, businesses and tourist attractions from the comfort of their homes, offices or hotel rooms.
Street view navigation in the new cities cover 12,000km, which is equivalent of San Francisco in the United States of America (U.S.A.)
Google Country Manager, Nigeria, Julie Ehimuan-Chiazor, who disclosed this in Lagos at the third edition of Google For Nigeria forum, said the efforts is aimed at making Google work better for Nigerians.
The firm also upgraded the maps, explaining that instead of the regular foreign voice, it launched the Nigerian voice in Google Maps driving directions to aid clarity and direction.
Besides, it introduced a new user interface on Google Maps that focuses on informal transit (danfo) directions, traffic, busyness of transit system and weather, among others.
Google announced the first-time launch of a two-wheeler (motorbike) directions mode in Google Maps in the country.
The technology company will also offer a $3 million grant to support African non-profit organisations focused on providing corporate social support in education for children in underserved communities, girls and economic empowerment of youths.
It also announced the launch of Bolo, a new speech-based reading tutor application designed to help primary school children learn to read.
Director, Product Management, Google, Ramesh Nagarajan, said about 15 million buildings have been added to the map, while over 200, 000 new businesses are now on the platform in Nigeria.
Nagarajan said the map could be accessed for over 100 million times in the country.
However, Ehimuan-Chiazor added Google, which started operations in 1998 in the USA, has become an enabler for global developments, stressing that the platform not only helps to get answers, but also something meaningful to engage in.
Director, Trust and Safety Terms, Google, Paul Nicholas, noted that the Internet as a great equaliser, brings people together, “but there is need for checks and balances.”
“As such, we are working with the Nigerian government on online safety curriculum, which will be made available to primary and secondary schools, where we hope that about 56 million pupils and students would have access to it and be positively impacted.”