A few days ago, ABS-CBN News announced that a Filipino “citizen cartographer,” Wayne Dell Manuel, bested 700 other contestants to become the winner of the first Google Map Maker Global Competition.

The contest was launched

to help humanitarian organizations like UNICEF better deliver services, respond to crises, and adapt to change in the countries they operate by enabling access to accurate digital maps.

In fact, even before the contest started last December, Wayne’s mapping contributions helped rescue workers locate victims during September’s Typhoon Ondoy.

Above are just a few of the many benefits of online mapping and Google Map Maker is one of them. (more…)