On the Tracks4Africa website, travelers pool their data, enrich it with textual and pictorial annotations, and collectively create a GPS map that natives and tourists alike can use and enhance. Jon Udell interviews one of the co-founders of Tracks4Africa, Johann Groenewald, who describes how a community of GPS enthusiasts evolved into -- and still exists in a symbiotic relationship with -- a 21st-century mapping business.
Johann Groenewald has wide variety of interests and hobbies but technology is his first love. With a background in civil engineering and ICT, Johann is involved with navigation and any technology supporting it. Graduating as a civil engineer from the University of Stellenbosch he has been involved with GIS and GPS systems from early on in his career, mostly in the utility sector as a business analyst and systems development manager.
Today he spends most of his time in developing platforms to expand the business reach of Tracks4Africa which includes maps for a wide range of navigation systems as well as a unique layer of community data on Google Earth and an associated web site called Padkos.
Resources
This free podcast is from our Jon Udell's Interviews with Innovators series.
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