2022
When I was a kid, I was amazed by maps. Every month we received issues of National Geographic from a Canadian relative with those gigantic, fold-out supplement maps. I just loved them. Especially the ones that looked like infographics with their detailed graphic design. Maybe they were less geographically precise but could draw more attention on their special focus. I wanted to become a mapmaker and draw such maps, but until that I was the one on the family vacations whom always hold a map in the hands.
This affection continued in school, where I had to work with various maps and atlases on Geography and History classes. If it included something to do with maps, then that was my favourite homework. Maybe my choice of studies had a connection too. I have started studying architecture: the art of formation of spaces, from the level of interiors to the scale of the landscape (sidenote: my second option for university application was GIS - geoinformatics). The language of architecture, the plans we draw, are somewhat similar to that of maps: a two dimensional and abstract representation of a much more complex and three dimensional reality.
Around this time, the introduction of Google Earth was a huge revelation for me. With its satellite images, never seen before in such detail, it offered an amazing global insight. I have travelled literally for days on its interface. It was thrilling to see how the third dimension was added later with the terrain first and then the buildings in more and more cities. It became a major tool for us architects to get to know the environment of our remote located projects.
But in the meantime, parallel to these technical and informational developments I also started to realise how Google Maps offered a more and more personalised experience to me. Remembering my favourite cafés and later recommending similar ones, helping my day to day trips with traffic information and timetables and then getting to learn my travelling habits. I truly could not miss my phone with the Google Maps app in any of my journeys anymore.
But how could this personalised experience work? I asked myself - to realise soon, how people filled the framework of Maps with their vast contributions. As I was committed to economic and knowledge sharing (eg. travelled and hosted with couchsurfing for years) already, it was a great initiation to start helping people through Maps: the disabled by adding accessibility informations, the local drivers by editing incorrect street directions, newcomers in the neighbourhood by recommending the best bakeries or fellow travellers with photos and ratings.
As a local guide my main drive is to explore and show, rate and recommend the best places in my hometown, Budapest. Soon it became an entertaining, everyday hobby, almost a habit: I rate my experience in the cafés and restaurants on an instant, check all my photos if they could be helpful to upload. (My other hobby project is similar to this, as I collect the different views of the statue of liberty in Budapest I stumble upon walking the city, and I publish these on thegirlwiththepalm instagram account) …and it is always so grateful to see positive feedback coming back to me. However, this habit cannot sleep when I leave home: also during my travels I try to add my perspective in the form of a couple of photos or a recommendation to help fellow travellers.
Finally, talking about travels, one thing I have to admit: despite I plan, search and mark almost everything on my mobile Maps app, my old love for the good old fold-out paper maps still endures.
