For Pakistani users, unfortunately, there is no Urdu language selection in interface language list so most probably has to stick to English as secondary choice. However, the maps can be searched for features and directions in Urdu as normal. As you can see from following screen-shots that searching a town or taking directions from one place to another is as usual; provided if the names are available in Urdu language.

Google Map Maker Mappers

Here is the important bit of information for mappers at Google Map Maker from where this all Google Maps data is sourced from. Now it is very important to add the secondary names to the features to make it available in local/national languages. So as per to Map Maker documentation, Preferred name for each language is recommended and the format for two variants of name will be as follows:

• English – Preferred – PirMahal
• Urdu – Preferred – پیر محل

Adding names in English is necessary as it can help users from around the world to understand the Pakistan well in terms of geography and geology. Adding an Urdu and/or local language name is important because of local use and providing a helpful reading for language literate users to pronounce and understand the name correctly.

Announcement source: Single-language labels in Google Maps – Google Lat-Long blog

Pictures

Pictures are copyrighted to Google Pakistan.

It is worth mentioning again that contributions by huge number of users at Google Map Maker has helped building such a helpful map which then during year 2010 floods saved over 400,000 lives by rescuing them from flooded areas to safe places by Pakistan Armed Forces.

More than 45 individuals including number of students from institute, from other institutes, bloggers and citizens from various fields attended the event to learn the basics of mapping at Google Map Maker. Google country consultant Badar Khushnood started the event with introduction to Google mapping products and their use in various fields in Pakistan in recent years. Google Map Maker Advocates, Omer, Faraz and Jabran took over with presentations, handy tutorials and quick mapping sessions to teach the basics.

Dr Sayeed Ghani, Associate Dean of faculty of Computer Science at Institute of Business Administration, demonstrated their work titled as “Sindh Relief Maps” using community based geographical information over-layered at top of the Google Maps API to assist in disaster management.

These event were organised with great help of Google Map Maker Community Team, Advocates, Google Pakistan, CIO Pakistan, Dr. Sayeed Ghani at Institute of Business Administration and tons of hard work put in by volunteers.

Event Schedule

The official schedule of the event was as follows:

14:30 – Registration at reception.
15:00 – Welcome note by Badar Khushnood (Google Country Consultant, Pakistan).
15:15 – Mapping success stories and usage summery by Map Maker advocates.
15:30 – Dr. Sayeed Ghani presentations on Sindh mapping work
16:00 – Product Introduction – Q&A.
16:15 – Training & Lab Mapping.
18:00 – End note, feedback, networking & refreshment.

Multimedia

Pictures & videos from this event can be seen in Google MapUp Karachi Gallery.

Reviews & In Media

• Mapping Parties in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi – Geography of Pakistan
• A cause to celebrate in Pakistan with Google Map Maker – Google Latlong blog
• Google MapUps in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi! – CIO Pakistan
• پاکستان میں گوگل میپ اپ اختتام پزیر – The News Tribe
• Google Pakistan invites to MapUp – Code Week
• Cartography: Tech enthusiasts gear up to map up Karachi – The Express Tribune
• Are narcissists bringing social media down? – The Express Tribune
• Google Map Up Event at IBA, Karachi – I am Pakistan

Event Location

The event was held at Institute of Business Administration City campus.

Pictures

Pictures are copyrighted to Google Pakistan.

It is worth mentioning again that contributions by huge number of users at Google Map Maker has helped building such a helpful map which then during year 2010 floods saved over 400,000 lives by rescuing them from flooded areas to safe places by Pakistan Armed Forces.

More than 150 individuals including number of students from university, from other institutes, bloggers and citizens attended the event to learn the basics of mapping at Google Map Maker. Google country consultant Badar Khushnood started the event with introduction to Google mapping products and their use in various fields in Pakistan in recent years. Google Map Maker Advocates, Omer, Faraz and Jabran took over with presentations, handy tutorials and quick mapping sessions to teach the basics.

Sohaib Khan, an assistant professor of Computer Sciences at LUMS presented his team work on relief maps (featured in wired.com) developed for floods in 2010 and their extraordinary case study to digitize the paper maps collection from official historical sources and is titled as “Village Finder” project.

Download single page summary – [629 KB]
Download complete paper – [7.3 MB]

These event were organised with great help of Google Map Maker Community Team, Advocates, Google Pakistan, CIO Pakistan, Sohaib Khan at Lahore University of Management Sciences and tons of hard work put in by volunteers.

Event Schedule

The official schedule of the event was as follows:

14:30 – Registration at reception.
15:00 – Welcome note by Badar Khushnood (Google Country Consultant, Pakistan).
15:15 – Mapping success stories and usage summery by Map Maker advocates.
15:30 – Sohaib Khan presentations on mapping work
16:00 – Product Introduction – Q&A.
16:15 – Training & Lab Mapping.
18:00 – End note, feedback, networking & refreshment.

Multimedia

Pictures & videos from this event can be seen in Google MapUp Lahore Gallery.

Reviews & In Media

• Mapping Parties in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi – Geography of Pakistan
• A cause to celebrate in Pakistan with Google Map Maker – Google Latlong blog
• Google MapUps in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi! – CIO Pakistan
• Google Holds MapUp at NUST, Islamabad – Code Week

Event Location

The event was held at National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU) Islamabad campus.

Pictures

Pictures are copyrighted to Google Pakistan.

These events are organised by Google Map Maker Advocates 2011 for Pakistan with help of Google country consultant, Badar Khushnood aiming at introducing the product to vast number of people and usefulness that Google Map Maker has brought through digitalizing the Pakistan on Google Maps and Google Earth. It is worth mentioning again that contributions by huge number of users at Google Map Maker has helped building such a helpful map which then during year 2010 floods saved over 400,000 lives by rescuing them from flooded areas to safe places by Pakistan Armed Forces.

First event in this series was held on 7th June 2011 at National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU) Islamabad campus. A total of 55 individuals including number of students from university, from other institutes, bloggers and citizens attended the event to learn the basics of mapping at Google Map Maker. Google country consultant Badar Khushnood started the event with introduction to Google mapping products and their use in various fields in Pakistan in recent years. Google Map Maker Advocates, Omer, Faraz and Jabran took over with presentations, handy tutorials and quick mapping sessions to teach the basics.

These event was organised with great help of Google Map Maker Community Team, Advocates, Google Pakistan, CIO Pakistan, FAST-NU Islamabad and tons of hard work put in by volunteers.

Event Schedule

The official schedule of the event was as follows:

14:30 – Registration at reception.
15:00 – Welcome note by Badar Khushnood (Google Country Consultant, Pakistan).
15:15 – Mapping success stories and usage summery by Map Maker advocates.
15:45 – Product Introduction – Q&A.
16:15 – Training & Lab Mapping.
18:00 – End note, feedback, networking & refreshment.

Multimedia

Pictures & videos from this event can be seen in Google MapUp Islamabad Gallery.

Reviews & In Media

• Mapping Parties in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi – Geography of Pakistan
• A cause to celebrate in Pakistan with Google Map Maker – Google Latlong blog
• Google MapUps in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi! – CIO Pakistan
• Google Holds MapUp at NUST, Islamabad – Code Week

Event Location

The event was held at National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU) Islamabad campus.

Pictures

Pictures are copyrighted to Google Pakistan.

Videos

Special thanks to Munawar Ahmad for exclusive coverage of the event. Following is the playlist for all videos from event.

The first ever Google mapping event was held at Lahore campus of FAST-NU on 2nd January 2010. This event welcomed the existing mappers at Google Map Maker, new interested mappers from various fields of life, blogger community and press media. This basic aim of this event was to recognize the existed quality work done at Google Map Maker, to highlight the benefits of digital maps in daily life and to train & welcome the new contributors.

Badar Khushnood, Google country consultant organised the event at FAST-National University Lahore with extensive help and contribution provided by Khurram Siddiqi, faculty co-advisor at Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter. Faraz Ahmad and Omer Sheikh, senior contributors for Pakistan maps at Google Map Maker also joined from Glasgow and Lahore, respectively, to share their experience from past two years.

Apart from hard work of above mentioned gentlemen, following groups/organisations played key role to make this event happen.

• Extraordinary team efforts of volunteers
• Google Map Maker team
• Students and faculty members at FAST-NU ACM (Association of Computing Machinery)
• ICO Pakistan (Media Partner)

The event turned out to be successful with all the enthusiastic participation of attendees. The event started with brief introductions by hosts and a quick overview of Google Map Maker and then table was turned to participants to share their view, questions and concerns. It was very welcoming to see interesting questions, suggestions and concerns such as map data ownership, national security and much more.

Event Schedule

The official schedule of the event was as follows:

12:30- 2:00: Auditorium
Reception
Introduction from prominent mappers & organizers
Higher agenda and reasoning: what are we planning to do with this?
Why is mapping just the tip of the iceberg?
Product introduction & presentations (Hosts & Participants)
Brainstorming & Ideas for future Pakistan maps & product and on:
Why Google maps?
Setting mutual standard mapping throughout the country
Maps and public information in business sectors
Problems in mapping particular for Pakistani mappers

2:00 – 2:30 Tea Break

2:30: 4:30: Lab Sessions
Mappers introduction from the participants
Training Session
Map an area collectively (Can be chosen by hands-up votes)
Short Break – Snacks & Refreshment
Questions & Suggestions from last mapping sessions

4:45 – 5:00 Goodbye Note

Multimedia

Pictures & videos from this event can be seen in Lahore Mapping Party Gallery.

Reviews & In Media

• Google Map Maker Ambassadors — party on! – Google Latlong blog
• Google Mapping Party at FAST-NUCES Lahore today – In the Line of Wire
• Google Map Maker for Pakistan: Support it or Oppose it? – Lahore Metblogs
• Google Mapping Party In Lahore – Code Week
• Google Mapping Party, Lahore and Me – My Land Pakistan
• Google Mapping Party Badar friends Team Work 2 Jan 2010 at FAST-NU Lahore Pakistan – Munawar Ahmad

Event Location

The event was held at National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU) Lahore campus.