My journey mapping the uncharted world | Tawanda Kanhema

Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Camille Martínez

翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: Helen Chang

几年前，

我朋友的父亲让我在地图上 给他看看我母亲的房子。

我知道津巴布韦还没有街景地图，

但是我还是找了找，

A few years back,

我们当然没找到。

my friend's dad asked me to show him my mom's house on the map.

如果你去看大部分的地图平台，

I knew we didn't have Street View in Zimbabwe yet,

你会发现非洲大陆

but I looked anyway,

大面积缺失。

and of course, we couldn't find it.

我就想：

是因为人吗？

When you look at most mapping platforms,

是因为科技吗？

you will find that parts of the African continent

还是地形？

are largely missing.

非洲大陆上有将近十亿人，

And I've wondered:

有些科技不是为我们而生，

Is it the people?

已经成为我们普遍的认知。

Is it the technology?

Or is it the terrain?

For nearly a billion people on the continent,

当气旋“伊代”在 2019 年扫平了莫桑比克、

it's an accepted reality

津巴布韦、马拉维的多处，

that certain technologies are just not built for us.

造成 1300 人死亡， 迫使成千上万的人背井离乡时，

When Cyclone Idai flattened parts of Mozambique,

它留下的不只是破坏。

Zimbabwe and Malawi in 2019,

它警示了我们忽视

killing 1,300 people and displacing hundreds of thousands of others,

科技建设方式的后果。

it left more than just destruction.

救援人员到达受灾地 寻找幸存者时，

It left a new awareness of the consequences of omission

我们发现几千名流离失所的人

in the way we build technology.

在没有采集地图的地区，

As rescue workers arrived in the region in search of survivors,

让急需的食物和医疗物资 难以到他们的手中。

we learned that thousands of displaced people

were in unmapped areas,

无法精确计算失去了什么。

making it difficult to reach them with much-needed food

在这些没有绘制地图的地区，

and medical supplies.

一场自然灾害就意味着 没人能来救你。

There was no accurate accounting of what had been lost.

好在如今我们制作地图的工具

For those in unmapped areas,

a natural disaster often means no one will come to find you.

已经变得更容易获取。

我们可以是解决办法的一环。

Thankfully, as the tools used to build some of the maps we use today

每个有电脑或者手机的人

become more easily accessible,

都可以帮助标注

we can be part of the solution.

精密地图上缺失的社区。

Anyone with a computer or a cell phone

就在两周里，

can play a role in improving the representation of communities

我拍摄了津巴布韦 两千英里的图景，

that are missing accurate maps.

我拍摄每一英里，

都更能体会到

In two weeks,

没被地图标注意味着什么。

I photographed 2,000 miles of Zimbabwe,

我开始准备我的制图之旅时，

and with every single mile I captured,

I got closer to an answer

我发现虽然很多我们现在用的地图

and a better sense of what it means to not be on the map.

是基于专有技术，

但是很多部分都始于开源。

As I started to prepare for my mapping journey,

I learned that while many of the maps we use today

我可以把这些部分 和现成产品融合，

are built on proprietary technology,

the pieces that make up that canvas often have open-source origins.

做成可以从商用或开源的平台上

容易获取的地图。

I could combine those pieces with off-the-shelf products

我最初的设置非常的基础：

to build maps that are accessible

在我兄弟的车窗外贴了一个

on both commercial and open-source platforms.

360 度的运动相机。

拍了几百英里街景之后，

I started with a very rudimentary setup:

a 360-degree action camera stuck outside the window

我从街景相机租赁计划 借了一台合适的相机，

让我可以拍摄高分辨率的图像，

of my brother's car.

After capturing a few dozen miles of city streets,

而且包含位置、 速度和其他关键数据。

I borrowed a proper camera from the Street View camera loan program,

我改装了这台相机， 装在我的背包上，

allowing me to capture high-resolution imagery,

再加上一些别的装置，

complete with location, speed and other vital layers of data.

就能装在直升机的仪表盘上、

I adapted that camera to sit on a backpack I could carry,

快艇的船头上、

越野车的顶盖上。

and with the help of a few more contraptions,

我从维多利亚瀑布启程，

we were able to mount it to the dash of a helicopter,

它是世界七大自然奇迹之一，

the bow of a speedboat

然后向东

and the hood of an all-terrain vehicle.

前往来自 11 世纪的 大津巴布韦城遗址。

My journey started at Victoria Falls,

在我回家之前，

one of the seven natural wonders of the world,

终于把我的家乡标注在了地图上。

and then I headed east

但是，还有很多地区 在各大地图平台上

to the 11th-century city of Great Zimbabwe,

依旧不为人所知。

before retracing my footprints home,

finally putting my hometown on the map.

除了导航，

And yet, much of the region remains all but invisible

地图还传达了 很多我们关心的事物。

它告诉我们空气质量、

on some of the most widely used mapping platforms.

可再生能源的可能性、

Beyond navigation,

街道的安全。

maps are a proxy for what we care about.

这些线条记录了我们的旅程。

They tell us about the quality of the air we breathe,

某种程度上， 地图是一种讲故事的方式。

the potential for renewable energy solutions

如果你去看非洲大陆 现在绘制地图的状态，

and the safety of our streets.

These lines retrace the journeys we've taken.

你会发现覆盖区域拼凑的痕迹，

In a sense, maps are a form of storytelling.

经常是由自然灾害引发的 人道主义需求导致，

When you look at the state of mapping on the African continent today,

而不是

you'll find a patchwork of coverage,

为了建设数字基建 和改善总体民众服务

often driven by humanitarian need in the wake of natural disasters,

而做的有计划的、持续的努力。

rather than by deliberate and sustained efforts

这片大陆缺少的是

讲述人们如何生活、

to build out digital infrastructure

and improve overall service delivery.

如何工作、

如何消磨时间的地图，

体现环境和社会问题。

What the continent is lacking

are maps that tell the story of how people live,

用开普敦和开罗之间 超过 6 亿人的手机

work

and spend time,

illuminating environmental and social issues.

和在此之间城市的创新中心，

With more than 600 million cell phones in the hands of people

我们能做到。

between Cape Town and Cairo

每一个设备

都可以让人们为 开源地图平台做出贡献，

and centers of innovation in the cities in between,

this is achievable.

它会成为图像丰富的来源，

Every single one of those devices,

形成地图的重要数据层。

in the hands of a contributor to an open-source mapping platform,

有了这些虚拟地图，

制图不仅是制图学的事情。

becomes a powerful source of imagery

它变成了一种保存

that forms a vital layer of data on maps.

长年累月经历风云巨变的 地区的方式。

With virtual maps,

mapping is no longer just about cartography.

高分辨率图像让地图 变成了一张动态画布，

It's become a way to preserve places

that are undergoing constant and sometimes dramatic change.

我们可以在上面瞬间感受到

城市的律动和视觉体验，

High-resolution imagery turns maps into a living canvas

这座城可以来自千里之外。

on which we can instantly experience

城市规划师们可以测量交通密度，

the rhythm and visual iconography of a city,

找出出问题的路口，

often from thousands of miles away.

在北安大略省的例子中，

我和当地政府合作，绘制冰路。

City planners are able to measure traffic density

你现在可以探索詹姆斯湾

or pick out problem intersections,

and in the case of Northern Ontario,

西岸沿线 500 英里的冰路。

where I mapped ice roads in partnership with the local government,

每年冬天，零下 20 度 持续 10 天之后，

you can now explore 500 miles of winter roads

工程师们就开始建设冰路。

along the western edge of the James Bay.

这些路只会保留 90 天，

Every winter, after 10 days of minus 20-degree temperatures,

连接几百英里冻土带上的社区。

engineers begin the work to build the road of the season.

These roads only exist for 90 days,

在绘制了纳米比亚—— 世界上最热的地方之一之后，

行驶在北安大略的冰路上，

connecting communities across hundreds of miles of frozen tundra.

我看见了社区 使用地图的不同方式，

Being on the winter roads of Northern Ontario

after mapping parts of Namibia, one of the warmest places on the planet,

去掌握环境变化的速度和影响。

exposed me to the many ways in which communities are using maps

所以在绘制了津巴布韦、纳米比亚 和北安大略的 3000 英里，

to understand the pace and impact of changes in the environment.

发布了将近 50 万张街景图像，

So after mapping 3,000 miles in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Northern Ontario

通过地图接触到了 超过 2600 万人之后，

and publishing nearly half a million images to Street View,

我发现这不是因为科技。

这不是因为人，

也显然不是因为地形。

reaching more than 26 million people on Maps,

每隔一天，

I know it's not the technology,

我听到科学家利用地图

it's not the people,

理解我们现有的环境 如何影响健康，

and it's clearly not the terrain.

Every other day,

教师在教室利用虚拟现实技术，

I hear from scientists who are using maps

人道主义工作者 用地图保护弱小的人。

to understand how our built environment influences health outcomes,

一位父亲给我写信说， 他终于可以给他的女儿们

teachers using virtual reality in the classroom

展示他长大的房子，

and humanitarian workers using maps to protect the vulnerable.

和他出生的医院，位于哈拉雷。

A dad wrote to me to say he'd finally been able to show his girls

想一想上次你给陌生人 指路是什么时候。

the house in which he grew up

我们给互联地图做贡献的时候，

and the hospital in which he was born, in Harare.

是在给上百万的人指路。

Think about the last time you gave directions to a stranger.

那个陌生人可能是一个游客，

When we contribute to connected maps,

一个学者，

we're giving directions to millions.

一个第一响应者，

一个在不熟悉环境下 工作的急救人员。

And that stranger may be the occasional tourist,

当我们思考如何弥合数字鸿沟时，

a researcher,

a first responder,

a rescue worker working in unfamiliar terrain.

应该超越传统的

数据提取和使用的形式，

As we begin to think about how to bridge the digital divide,

多思考我和你能在

we should go beyond the traditional narrative

创造日常科技和 工具中饰演的角色。

of data extraction and consumption

我们的目标不是 丈量地球的每一寸，

and think more critically about the role you and I play

而是花点时间思考最需要 这些工具的地方、

in the creation of the technologies and tools we use every day.

我们的使命会带来的结果，

The goal is not to map every inch of the planet,

和我与你在填补这些空缺

but to spare a moment to think about where those tools are most needed,

和一起建设更加互联的世界中

the consequences of our mission

所扮演的角色。

谢谢。

and the role you and I can play in filling those gaps

and building a more connected world

together.

Thank you.