In May 2013, Google's vice president took to stage and announced that Google was aiming to build "a perfect map of the world." An honorable notion with almost utopian connotations – and why shouldn't it? After all, Google has been at the forefront of leading the biggest change to mapping since the 15th century, when maps went from manuscript to print. Now they're online and taking advantage of satellite imagery, maps are more detailed, accurate and multi-dimensional than they've ever been, but could such a thing as the perfect map ever exist?

Wired UK This story originally appeared on WIRED UK.

History tells us no, and that we should be wary of anyone – any state, any organization or any company – that declares a wish to create one, says Jerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University London and author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps.

"As soon as you hear anyone saying they're making a perfect map of the world, alarm bells should ring because they're trying to sell, metaphorically, a certain ideological vision, a certain kind of product. They're trying to push something, be it religious, political, ideological, commercial, whatever it might be," he says.

"A map of the world can cut two ways – of course it's an object of great wonder and amazement and can show the diversity and beauty and the extraordinary extent of the world and it makes people very engaged in the idea of humanity. At the same time that image can immediately be co-opted for authoritarian ends."

Acknowledging a map's agenda —————————-

That's not to say, of course, that Google is authoritarian, but it's important to recognize that behind every map ever made there is an agenda shaped by the ideas of its age, and therefore the view we're being presented with will always be partial and contain some kind of bias. Take the Ordnance Survey maps, for example, which are much beloved by British hikers, but which were originally designed for use by the military. For the likes of modern cartographers such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, the agenda that drives most of their products are things like dominating search and, of course, accumulating profit, argues Brotton, and that will always come through in the focus on searching for businesses in the services they provide.

There's more to it than that though, says Jessica Pfund, who is a program manager for Google MapMaker. "It's not necessarily about commercial gain, it's about the philosophy of what's the right thing to do – although I'm sure it makes us money as well. The next billion people are now just coming online and having good maps of these places, places that you care about, is extremely important in having the internet make sense for the next billion," she says.

Brotton, however, sees Google's claims of being propelled by altruism as contradictory and at odds with the commercial purposes it serves. "The problem is that they still maintain that rhetoric that they're trying to be very liberal and support minority groups, but that just cannot be when you get into the situation where you're just trying to chase and generate an enormous profit," he says.

Pfund argues though that Google's core mission statement means that the company too is mapping for both causes. "Clearly it's still in our commercial interest, but I think it's really impressive and part of the reason I continue to work at Google is because they have this mission to organize the world's data and make it universally useful and accessible and I think that means going to every little corner of every country and making sure it's correctly mapped on our map."

Google's rise to power ———————-

The gradual accumulation of services and data over the years has put Google in something of an untouchable position when it comes to online mapping, which is why when Apple tried to launch its own maps app for iOS devices last year it was so inaccurate and poorly received. "It was a complete disaster because the data they used was just not good enough – they just haven't spent the decades Google has spent just gathering geospatial data," says Brotton, who has worked alongside Google in the past.

It all started back in 2004 when Google acquired a software company called Keyhole that had in its portfolio an application called Earth View, which eventually morphed into Google Earth. "They just bought it because they thought it looked great," Brotton says. "They had no idea how they were going to use it, but then they realized, and it's now become an absolutely integral part of their search. The way in which Google Maps is now connected immediately to all forms of search is because they realized that nearly 30-40 percent of all searches carried out on Google had some geographical element. They just sort of stumbled into using Keyhole Earth because it was exactly what they needed as part of their search experience. It's become absolutely central, and of course now everyone else has also realized, but Google's stayed one step ahead."

Part of staying ahead has also meant creating geospatial data where there was none to be bought, which was how Google's MapMaker program came into existence. When the Google team in India couldn't find a data provider, they set up a website through which anyone with a Google account could make changes to the map. After being reviewed for accuracy, the changes would then be live on Google Maps.

MapMaker is interesting as Google products go, Pfund explains, as instead of launching it as usual in California, before rolling in out in the rest of America, then to the rest of the world via Europe, it was done backwards. Places like India, Kenya and Kazakhstan, which would usually get products last, were prioritized, whereas the UK only got MapMaker in April this year.

"We now have 90 percent of the world covered in higher quality maps," says Pfund. "Where before we had blue for all of Asia, we now have Armenia at the level of seeing the Armenian language, where every little barber shop or cafe is on the map in real time."

"If you think about maps historically they've always been created and kept in the hands of the rich, the powerful, the kings, the emperors – the common man wasn't really invited to that party. I think what's so powerful about the maps of today is that yes, we're getting them from commercial sources still and yes we're still getting them from government sources and those things will never go away and they're extremely important, but we're also able to get input from everyday people who know and love their neighborhood better than anyone else."

The ethics of data ownership and sharing —————————————-

The problem many academics and cartographers have with Google, and MapMaker specifically though, is that while the data is collected by and the rendered maps are now available to the "common man," the raw data is still controlled by the company itself. Google, one of the modern-day wielders of power, operates a fairly closed system when it comes to sharing geospatial data – even the stuff it hasn't bought – meaning that it's not freely available for people to use it to create their own maps or products, even if they're for non-commercial use.

"What we've found is that most people in the world are using this information through Google's mapping products, especially now they can make it available offline," says Pfund. "What we're trying to do is cater to the everyday people and Google usually looks at everybody, it doesn't look at a specific group of professionals or other folks."

Of course, it's well within Google's interests to keep the majority of people using its products, and people will continue to do so if Google gives them no alternative way to access the data. There are plenty of people who believe, though, that access to mapping data collated by volunteers should be unrestricted. This is how it works with MapMaker's rival system OpenStreetMap, explains Richard Sliuzas, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Twente.

"With OpenStreetMap, the idea was that people would go out in teams or as individuals with devices like GPSs or even mobile phones and record information about their communities and have that available publicly, so that all of the data that's collected is accessible, basically to anyone, so there's no restrictions, no copyright restrictions like there is with Google MapMaker. That's quite an important difference – it doesn't mean though that the data cannot be used for commercial purposes because of course anybody can use it, including commercial companies. In the long run maybe there's a different philosophy behind it but they can serve public interest as well as commercial interest."

OpenStreetMap is open data, meaning anyone can copy, distribute, transmit and adapt it, as long as they credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. Around 1.3 million contributors are registered on OpenStreetMap, whereas Google MapMaker has around 40,000 users. Mikel Maron, who is President of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, believes the freedom to use OpenStreetMap data or imagery is entirely necessary if communities who participate in mapping projects are to use the activity to empower them.

"We really think it's important that the people who are creating the map data, or are involved with creating the map data, are the people who are living there, and the data that's created from their communities is something they have a stake in and is something that they can fully use to improve their own situation and advance the agenda of the community. That's why it's crucial that this kind of project happen in a Commons with open data and within a community that supports that kind of work, and that's why I've been working with OpenStreetMap for so long.

"Now who exactly should be doing that? Well I think every place is different. I think it would be amazing if Google was willing to do that kind of thing, but they have a proprietary database and as such the people who are collecting data don't have full ability to use what they've created, and I think that's ethically a big problem."

The need for more than one map ——————————

The question as to who should be responsible for making sure the world is accurately and comprehensively mapped is as tricky to answer as the question of data ownership. Google has pledged to improve its maps and fill in the gaps to make it "perfect', but even its critics agree that the duty does not lie with the company to do so.

"What you need is a variety of different maps and an awareness that they're all partial and they're all subjective, and why we're using one map or the other when they're usually portraying a certain agenda," says Brotton. "I think that's quietly what Google is not engaging with, and it's quietly wanting people to assume that because they're the market leader they must be the best and the most accurate."

The Palestinian city of Ramallah mapped by Google (left) and OpenStreetMap (right).

There's no denying that what Google has done for mapping is revolutionary – opening up the Great Barrier Reef, making it possible for researchers to discover a whole forest full of new species in previously uncharted territory in Mozambique – its achievements are copious and remarkable. But no map can be perfect and there will always be gaps or lack of detail – whether it's the Scottish Island of Jura that Google somehow lost entirely, private roads in wealthy areas or informal settlements like slums. It's something that people often forget or get complacent about when they think they've found the best option though, Brotton says.

"There are always questions with a map of the world about what's put on the map and what's left off the map. All geographers and cartographers know that's a basic principle of mapping, but cultures tend to forget that that's at work, so every culture believes that their own map is completely transparent and objective and shows the world as they understand it."

This is one of the problems that has occurred on the West Bank, where Jewish settlements on Google Maps are intricately detailed with streets and services accurately labelled, but where Palestinian areas are just left as unlabeled outlines. It's caused by the information provided by GIsrael, Google's data provider for the area, and has resulted in confusion over where there are Palestinian settlements nearby, according to research conducted by Christine Leuenberger at Cornell University. You only need to check the OpenStreetMap version of the map to discover an entirely different story about the area to the one Google tells.

Filling in the gaps: slum mapping ———————————

It's also been a problem with inner city slums where "the quality of the mapping is often rather poor", says Sliuzas.

"In some cities, these areas are quite well mapped and quite well monitored. In Sao Paulo in Brazil, for example, they have a very big program. All of the data has been collected, it's online, it's monitored regularly – but that's unusual, there are many many cities where people don't know at all what the situation is."

Although UN Habitat has statistics for many things, he says, it lacks a good overview of exactly where the slums are, how big they are, how many people are in them, as well as what hazards there might be where. This makes it extremely difficult for authorities and the many NGOs who work in slums to know where money needs to be spent. They also need to have a firm grasp on what infrastructure and facilities already exist before they can work out what needs adding and what needs improving.

According to Maron: "It doesn't just work to ignore what's already been built up, even if it's been built up in an unplanned way, like in a lot of cities. It's important, in my view, if you're going to try and improve the life of a place that you understand and acknowledge what life is like there already."

This was something that the Google Earth Outreach team discovered when it was working in the Amazon in Brazil. Before he even had access to Google's products, a local chieftain had decided it was necessary to somehow mark out local area so policymakers didn't just treat it as a blank space to exploit for logging. To make the case for the area to be protected, it needed to be marked on the map with the important landmarks – the trees which were used for making ceremonial arrows, for example – plotted out in detail.

"If there are discussions about the future of a place, whether it's a slum or a rural area, or an indigenous people's area, you need to know what's there already, because often the inclination is to treat it that nothing's there, or that nothing of value is there," Maron says.

A sample building. The Nairobi slum Kibera on Google Maps (as compared to the OpenStreetMap at the top of this post)

Many would argue that it lies to the state to make sure these areas are properly mapped and understood, but there have been cases where slums have been deliberately left off maps because authorities don't consider them formal parts of the city. This results in a situation where everyone knows there are slums in the city, but nobody can see them when they look at a map, says Sliuzas, who has dedicated his career to studying areas of urban poverty and informal settlements.

"There's this statement 'if you're not on the map you don't exist', to some extent, so if you're going to have discussions in local government with a team of planners and engineers about the state of the city and where things should be done, there are no maps which show these locations where most of the poor are living. It's very easy then not to address the problems of urban poverty and informal urban development because there's no medium to visualize it.

"That's changed completely now with Google Earth and the online access to satellite imagery, because of course now everyone can see where the slums are essentially, or at least can make some pretty good estimations about where the slums are. That means you cannot ignore anymore the fact that they exist and that in many cases they may be housing 60-70 percent of a given city," he says.

One example of this is Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. Drive to the south of the city and suddenly you'll be up on a flyover with the rusting tin roofs spreading out before you – it's impossible to ignore. There are around 170,000 people living in the slum (according to 2009 census) – enough, you'd suppose, to merit more than a grey blob with a vague network of paths on the map. Even the fact that there's no real grasp of the population size is a problem. The figure has been estimated, twisted and manipulated so many times by officials, aid organizations, journalists and others that it's been falsely reported up to 5 million people live in an area of up to 2 square miles. Kibera has been misrepresented by mostly well-meaning outsiders for years, which is why if it's to be accurately portrayed and understood, it's imperative that its residents should have the opportunity to define it and make it visible in a way that's representative of their own perspective.

"There are lot of conversations about slums, and very rarely are slum dwellers actually part of that conversation, so I think it's a crucial way to start to get involved," says Maron, who set up the Map Kibera project in 2009 with the help of his partner Erica Hagen. Map Kibera is frequently upheld as one of the most established and successful projects to use OpenStreetMap, but it wasn't until this year during the presidential elections that the project managed to see very solid, discernible outcomes, says Maron.

Mappers went out and mapped the polling places, the local political boundaries, which were not openly released. "The basic geometries of democracy weren't actually very accessible, so mappers went and actually walked these boundaries," Maron says. Printouts of maps were handed out not only to the residents of Kibera, but to police, local authorities, local media and those involved in peace-building before the election. Map Kibera worked closely with Voice of Kibera and Kibera's News Network to make sure residents were kept updated on developments and incidents. "We can most definitely say that all the monitoring and mapping activities helped contribute to a more peaceful election in the slum," Maron says.

Helping communities take control of their visibility —————————————————-

Satellite view of Kibera on Google Maps Satellite view of Kibera on Google Maps

Maron also runs the GroundTruth Initiative, which helps NGOs and organizations develop projects and strategy, as well as training them to use tools such as OpenStreetMap. People, especially young people, are very hungry and quick to learn, he says, even if they have little experience with technology or "geographic literacy."

"With Map Kibera – I don't know if it would be so much the case these days – but we actually had to start off teaching how to rename files and how to use the mouse. Now those guys, just a few years later are some of the best mappers in Kenya." Many people have never seen a map before, so geographic thinking is introduced through exercises such as getting them to map with their feet, paper map drawing and tracing routes they take frequently using satellite imagery.

"They're seeing the place as a whole place for the first time, and it's starting to make sense in new ways. That's why we've been very excited for things like murals." Security maps painted up on the walls mean that even people who haven't necessarily come into contact with Map Kibera can use them to work out where there are security facilities, safe spaces and danger spots.

Map Kibera is just one of many slum mapping projects using either OpenStreetMap or Google MapMaker that's run completely by the local community. "If you can show the facility to use that technology, to use sophisticated tools and do a better job than anyone else possibly could of representing the place where you're from, then the reputation and expectation of the community is higher. It shows that that's a place that really can engage in these discussions in an effective and engaged manner," says Maron.

Mapping in response to humanitarian crises ——————————————

Of course it's not always easy to run projects in places like slums or where there have been natural disasters as the environment is tough on the equipment. "The kind of things we have to deal with in Kibera, or in a humanitarian response are lack of internet, lack of electricity, it can be very dirty, you have to have to have a lot more patience, that's the main thing. I don't know if there's any particular tech tricks beyond if you don't have power, you have to try another day."

More developed countries tend to be darker in color. Image: Dafna Aizenberg OpenStreetMap view of part of Syria

Mapping by volunteers has been an essential part of coordinating action in many humanitarian situations, such as Haiti, or more recently, Syria, where agencies are using OpenStreetMap to share data. Often when there are multiple organizations working at the scene of a crisis, the way they share information is pretty ad hoc. By using OpenStreetMap as a place where all that data can be collected together and corrected and enhanced, everyone is aware of what the other agencies are doing.

"A refugee camp is like a city which is a built up overnight and it starts to take on this urban form very quickly," Maron says, adding that eventually residents of the camps may also want to contribute, when infrastructure and businesses like restaurants and barber shops start to pop up. "That's not the kind of thing an agency would be mapping, but it's helpful for them to understand."

According to Pfund, Google is encouraging mappers to use MapMaker for disaster preparedness mapping, by plotting the locations of shelters. This has been particularly effective in Pakistan, where there is frequent flooding, and in the Philippines, where damage is often caused by typhoons.

A power shift ————-

"Maps are knowledge and knowledge is power, and it's not about people versus government, it's about creating visibility and it's about improving the dialogues that are happening between these groups, so we can come to a better situation," says Pfund. "I think yes, maps can be extremely empowering for individuals, and I think we do only want accurate factual data on the map – so nothing that's planned, no private information – just information that's actually true and we do hope that having that data in the hands of everybody can help improve the conversations and discussions that people are having."

As populations continue to shift, environments continue to change and cities continue to grow, there needs to be an ongoing remapping of the world around us if we're to continue facilitating these kind of discussions. That MapMaker, OpenStreetMap and other similar map-making tools – along with dissimilar ones, which haven't even been touched upon here – coexist is vital to making sure we're constantly challenging our ideas of what should be mapped, and why, and how and by whom. Satellite imagery may have made visible many of the world's secrets, but the stories told by the ever-changing nuances of human geography need to be plotted and updated regularly according to human knowledge. Cartography is just as much an instrument of power as maps themselves, and for the first time in history, it's a tool being freely used by people who may have been ignored, or overlooked for a whole number of reasons to put themselves firmly on the map and take control of their own visibility.

Image: Map Kibera Trust

Original story on Wired UK