Nokia recently launched Map Creator (in beta), tossing its hat into the crowdsourcing GIS ring. While the announcement proclaims, “We’ve just launched Nokia Map Creator, a fun tool on maps.nokia.com that literally lets YOU map out your local neighbourhood! “, the next paragraph explains volunteer input is requested for twelve countries:
Our initial focus with Map Creator is to get more information on previously unmapped countries including: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.
The data will be incorporated into missing areas of Nokia’s NAVTEQ data which currently covers 180 countries. GIS data errors for those countries is handled by NAVTEQ Map Reporter, explained by Nokia as its “community based online tool for suggesting changes to the Navteq map“.
When visiting Nokia’s Map Creator web application, pencil icons highlight the areas of the map that users can help edit. Users have to register in order to add or edit geographic information. Unlike open source efforts such as OpenStreetMap, volunteer efforts to help out Nokia won’t result in public availability of its GIS data; rather the “work will complement and help speed up the continuous work of our dedicated Nokia Maps team.”
