A group of Vietnamese travel enthusiasts, hailing from all walks of life, have joined together to help complete the Google Map of Vietnam, free of charge to the technology giant.

The 15-member Google Map Maker team in Vietnam is entrusted by Google to approve and deny requests for new locations in the Southeast Asian country, while consistently updating sites and improving the map’s quality.

The ‘mappers’ include an engineer, a doctor in physics, a project manager, a university lecturer, a director of a brewery business, a former soldier, a miner, and other citizens selected for their dedication to improving the map’s thoroughness in Vietnam.

“We all started off as mischievous spammers who made random requests to the Google Maps site just for fun,” Le Bach, a 36-year-old from Hanoi, the leader of the map making team, said.

“We later became aware that making accurate requests would help improve the service for anyone in Vietnam and make it easier for users to reach their destinations,” he continued.

After studying the English tutorial, Bach began requesting new sites be added to Vietnam’s map in 2010 and was authorized by Google, with the approval of local recommendations, five years later.

“The team members are trying to complete the map and have translated all guidance materials into Vietnamese to help locals make their own contributions by requesting that new locations be added,” the leader stated.

Pham Van Manh, a 26-year-old miner and one of the map makers, stated that he began using the mapping service in 2011 and was granted the privilege to verify requests in 2015.

“It has become a habit for me to log on to the site on a daily basis,” Manh affirmed.

The Vietnamese ‘mappers’ speak at a conference. Photo: Vietnam Google Map Maker   

Not for money

Nguyen Tuan Anh, 46, from the northern city of Hai Phong, joined the Google Map Making team seven years ago when he realized that the map was lacking in important locations throughout the country.

“I decided to join the team to perfect the national map. It absolutely fits right into my hobbies -- traveling and promoting Vietnamese tourism through photographs,” Anh elaborated.

The map maker has traveled to many parts of the Southeast Asian nation to take photos and update the mapping service.

He recounted several trips he and other team members had made along a newly-built expressway and various remote localities in northern Vietnam to improve the map.

According to Anh, members of the group often meet once or twice a year in Hanoi, Hai Phong, or Ho Chi Minh City.

The team also coordinates with local universities to deliver presentations on Google Map Maker to Vietnamese students, Anh said, adding that he is happy and motivated by support from the schools.

Though many of the map makers can attest to personal satisfaction from improving the map, joining the team absolutely comes with its own sacrifices. 

Though Anh enjoys being part of the team, he is not shy to admit that juggling his map making role, along with running a business and taking care of a family means that even while on holiday, he often has to “go to work.”

Dinh Van Thanh, an editor at a newspaper in Hanoi, said he learned of Google Map Maker by chance after trying to fix the location of his workplace.

Thanh later discovered other nearby locations were mislabeled or missing from the Vietnamese map and began to submit his own corrections and requests. 

After five years of contributions, he was named a Vietnamese map maker.

There are ups and downs to being a ‘mapper,’ the editor said, explaining that they are often insulted and threatened after denying someone’s requests.

“The map is way more complete compared to six years ago, except for some remote areas,” Bach said.

According to the team leader, they have several times battled with foreign groups deliberately attempting to alter the location of some Vietnamese islands.

“We all do it for passion, not for money or credit,” Bach asserted.

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