South Sudan is on the map!

 

A few weeks ago, South Sudan became the 193rd country on the planet, but that wasn’t reflected in Google Earth until now. Stefan at Ogle Earth made some interesting comments about it when the new country was introduced, including:

• Why wasn’t Google ready for it from day one?

• What will they do about the disputed border areas?

They delay may have been so Google could sort out the border issues. As Stefan suggested, Google has included a red border on parts of the country to indicate the disputed borders, as seen here:

 

south-sudan.jpg 

The red area on the center of the northern border of South Sudan is Abyei, which right now belongs to both Sudan and South Sudan. However, I’m not sure of the story on the red disputed area along the western border.

To see the new country for yourself, simply search for “South Sudan” in Google Earth and it will fly you directly there.

South Sudan: A Country Not on Google Maps


South Sudan has become the world’s newest nation. I’ve just had a look at the major online mapping websites and it seems that none of them have yet added South Sudan.

However Ogle Earth has created a KML file that shows the outline of the new country. The map includes the town of Abyei which, pending a referendum, will officially belong to both South Sudan and Sudan.

You can view Ogle Earth’s KML file on Google Maps here.

Act Locally with New Imagery & Maps in Sudan

After years of conflict, Southern Sudan overwhelmingly opted to secede from the country’s north. Many challenges lie ahead as the newly independent state negotiates the rocky path towards independence. We believe that access to high-quality, up-to-date and locally relevant maps will assist humanitarian organizations working in the region.

We are encouraging users to add their local knowledge to this mapping effort through a campaign to build a better map of Sudan. Recent satellite imagery is key to building up-to-date maps, and we are continuously acquiring fresh and historical imagery of Sudan. Our latest imagery update is now live on Google Map Maker, Google Earth, and Google Maps, with nearly fifty percent of the UN priority areas over Southern Sudan covered with high resolution imagery. Thanks to our satellite partner GeoEye, we will continue to acquire and publish high resolution imagery of the remaining UN priority areas, as well as to refresh areas that we have previously covered as the need arises. This new imagery, such as the one over Melut, will directly benefit the many organizations working in Sudan and ultimately support the building of a solid basemap of Sudan to achieve long-term socioeconomic objectives.
Town of Melut (before 2/16/2004, after 1/30/2011). In Melut, there is a humanitarian hub where many services are delivered to at risk populations, including food, water, health care, education, and more. Given the varying needs of each of these services, maps can provide a variety of planning benefits for expansion, staff safety, and emergency procedures.
Google is also contributing to various humanitarian efforts, including the Satellite Sentinel project, by helping to build an active and self-sustained Sudanese mapping community — locally and among the Sudanese diaspora. This community will help improve maps of Sudan by using Google Map Maker, a product that combines the power of mapping with community engagement.
Dedicated mappers have started building the foundation for a Sudan mapping community, resulting in high quality maps of Sudan. But this is a long term process that requires deep commitment from various stakeholders and community groups. To join the Sudan mapping efforts, and offer feedback, please join our Sudan community mailing list or visit our team site.