Lalitesh Katragadda: Making maps to fight disaster, build economies

翻译人员: Wang-Ju Tsai 校对人员: Zachary Lin Zhao

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar.

2008年Nargis台风袭击了缅甸

Millions of people were in severe need of help.

数百万人急需帮助

The U.N. wanted to rush people and supplies to the area.

联合国想调度人员、物资进入灾区

But there were no maps, no maps of roads,

但是标明灾区道路的地图并不存在

no maps showing hospitals, no way for help to reach the cyclone victims.

地图上也没有标示医院，因此无法帮助台风受害的民众。

When we look at a map of Los Angeles or London,

当我们看洛杉矶，伦敦的地图时

it is hard to believe

让人难以置信的是

that as of 2005, only 15 percent of the world

截止到2005年全世界只有15%的地方

was mapped to a geo-codable level of detail.

有精确地图可供地理软件使用

The U.N. ran headfirst into a problem

联合国跟世界大部分的人们

that the majority of the world's populous faces:

遭遇到一样的问题：

not having detailed maps.

没有详细的地图。

But help was coming.

幸好援助来了

At Google, 40 volunteers

在谷歌有40个志愿者

used a new software

用一个软件

to map 120,000 kilometers of roads,

标示了120,000公里的路

3,000 hospitals, logistics and relief points.

3000个医院，运输和救援中心

And it took them four days.

他们一共花了四天

The new software they used? Google Mapmaker.

他们用的软件？叫Google Mapmaker （地图创作家）

Google Mapmaker is a technology that empowers each of us

Google Mapmaker 是一个允许我们

to map what we know locally.

标注我们地方讯息的科技

People have used this software

人们使用这套软件

to map everything from roads to rivers,

在地图上标注了道路，河流

from schools to local businesses,

学校，地方企业

and video stores to the corner store.

电影出租店到街角的商店。

Maps matter.

地图很重要

Nobel Prize nominee Hernando De Soto

诺贝尔奖被提名人Hernamdo De Soto认为

recognized that the key to economic liftoff

发展那些大量未被开发的土地

for most developing countries

对发展中国家的经济跃进

is to tap the vast amounts of uncapitalized land.

起着关键性的作用。

For example, a trillion dollars

举例来说，光在印度

of real estate remains uncapitalized in India alone.

还有三兆美元价值的不动产没被发展。

In the last year alone,

光在去年

thousands of users in 170 countries

在170个国家数千个使用者

have mapped millions of pieces of information,

在地图上加上了数百万笔的讯息

and created a map of a level of detail never thought viable.

创造了前所未有的精确度

And this was made possible by

这都要感谢世界各地热情的使用者

the power of passionate users everywhere.

使这一切变为可能。

Let's look at some of the maps

现在让我们看一看

being created by users right now.

这些使用者标注地图的情况：

So, as we speak, people are mapping the world

就在我们在这里演说的同时

in these 170 countries.

有170个国家的人在标示地图

You can see Bridget in Africa who just mapped a road in Senegal.

你可以看到在非洲的Bridget在标示赛内加尔的道路

And, closer to home, Chalua, an N.G. road in Bangalore.

离这近一点的Chulua在标示班加罗尔的NG路

This is the result of computational geometry,

这是综合了计算机地理

gesture recognition, and machine learning.

动作识别，机器学习的结果

This is a victory of thousands of users,

这是分布在数百个城市

in hundreds of cities,

数千个使用者的胜利

one user, one edit at a time.

一个使用者，一次编辑一个讯息

This is an invitation to the 70 percent

这也是对全球那70%还没标注地图

of our unmapped planet.

的地区的邀请

Welcome to the new world.

欢迎来到新世界

(Applause)

（掌声）