Lalitesh Katragadda: Making maps to fight disaster, build economies

譯者: Wang-Ju Tsai 審譯者: Zachary Lin Zhao

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar.

在2008年，Nargis颱風侵襲了緬甸

Millions of people were in severe need of help.

造成數百萬人急需救助

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

聯合國想要運送人員物資進災區

But there were no maps, no maps of roads,

但是沒有標示道路的地圖

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

標示醫院的地圖也沒有，以致無法幫助受災民衆。

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

當我們看看洛杉磯，倫敦的地圖時

it is hard to believe

你很難去相信

that as of 2005, only 15 percent of the world

到2005年全世界只有15%的地區的地圖

was mapped to a geo-codable level of detail.

達到可數位化的精確度

The U.N. ran headfirst into a problem

聯合國跟世界大部分的居民

that the majority of the world's populous faces:

遭遇到同樣的問題：

not having detailed maps.

沒有夠詳盡的地圖。

But help was coming.

但是救兵來了

At Google, 40 volunteers

在Google 有40位志願者

used a new software

使用了一套軟體

to map 120,000 kilometers of roads,

標註了12萬公里的道路

3,000 hospitals, logistics and relief points.

3000間醫院，運輸和救護站

And it took them four days.

他們一共花了四天的時間

The new software they used? Google Mapmaker.

他們使用的軟體？叫做Google Mapmaker

Google Mapmaker is a technology that empowers each of us

Google Mapmaker 是一個允許我們

to map what we know locally.

標註在地資訊的科技

People have used this software

人們使用這套軟體

to map everything from roads to rivers,

標註了道路，河流

from schools to local businesses,

學校，當地企業

and video stores to the corner store.

錄影帶出租店，到轉角的便利商店

Maps matter.

地圖很重要

Nobel Prize nominee Hernando De Soto

諾貝爾獎被提名人Hermando De Soto

recognized that the key to economic liftoff

認爲開發中國家要發展經濟

for most developing countries

最重要的關鍵是

is to tap the vast amounts of uncapitalized land.

去掌握大量未清查的土地

For example, a trillion dollars

舉例來説，光在印度就有

of real estate remains uncapitalized in India alone.

價值一兆美元的土地沒被列入控管

In the last year alone,

光在去年

thousands of users in 170 countries

170個國家數千個使用者

have mapped millions of pieces of information,

就標註了幾百萬筆資訊

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

並創造了前所未有的精確度

And this was made possible by

這項任務得以實現

the power of passionate users everywhere.

要歸功於全球各地熱情的使用者

Let's look at some of the maps

現在讓我們來看看

being created by users right now.

使用者標註地圖的實況。

So, as we speak, people are mapping the world

我們在此演説的同時

in these 170 countries.

170 個國家的人也在標註地圖

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

你可以看到在非洲的Bridget 剛為塞内加爾標註了一條道路

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

離這裡近一點，Chulua 剛為Bangalore 標註了NG路

This is the result of computational geometry,

這是融合了計算機幾何學

gesture recognition, and machine learning.

動作識別和機器學習的結果

This is a victory of thousands of users,

這也是在數百個城市裏

in hundreds of cities,

數千個使用者的勝利

one user, one edit at a time.

一個使用者一次編輯一筆資訊

This is an invitation to the 70 percent

這也是對70%未被涵蓋區域的居民

of our unmapped planet.

的一個邀請：

Welcome to the new world.

歡迎來到嶄新的世界。

(Applause)

（掌聲）