Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Google Maps Moves to Open Democracy

Tessa Jowell on Google Maps

Google Maps' latest innovation is the mapping of politicians.

Many people are worried about sharing their location online. Not so Tessa Jowell, a British Member of Parliament. In fact Tessa Jowell has apparently set up permanent residence in the UK Houses of Parliament and Google Maps has given the MP her own place name.

Giving a place name to politicians is another great improvement in supporting open democracy by Google. Now users of Google Maps can rate Tessa Jowell just by clicking on her name.

The reviews for Tessa are very useful. For example Jim says,

"Don't waste time and money on a day out at Tessa Jowell. Save your money and go off the beaten track to landmarks like Tony Benn or Ed Balls instead."

Benj disagrees, he says,

"Tessa is resplendent in the evening light. Visiting London and watching the sun set over her is one of the most profound spiritual moments I have ever experienced.‎"

Martin however is in agreement with Jim, he claims that,

"The whole edifice needs knocking down and starting again."

Google's decision to map British MP's again proves that Google Maps is at the forefront of online mapping. A lot has been made recently at the improvements being made by Bing Maps. However have a look at Bing Maps in London and, even with the help of Ordnance Survey, they completely miss the British politician.


Even Open Street Maps, with their thousands of amateur cartographers continuously circling and mapping Parliament Square, fail to spot Tessa Jowell.



I'm sure that there will be some who will scoff at this innovation or who will claim that this is just another mapping error by Google Maps. I say Google haven't gone far enough. How long do we have to wait until we get the compulsory tagging and online tracking of all politicians?

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