2nd Addis Abeba Map drafted to make Travel Across City Easier

Addis Abeba last week got its second map, three months after the first one was prepared by the Ethiopian Mapping Agency (EMA) in September this year. The first map is currently available on the market and is also the only one to have been prepared in ten years.

The second one, prepared through the initiative of the German government’’s Gesellschaft Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) through its Urban Governance and Decentralization Programme (UGDP), in collaboration with EMA, was launched on Monday, November 24, 2008.

In addition to financing the preparations of the map, GTZ also brought in professionals to develop the map working with EMA.

The two maps are basically meant to assist tourists travel to the different places in the city, and they include areas built up over the past few years.

“The city is changing very fast,” Class Knoop (PhD), German Ambassador to Ethiopia, said.

The face of the city has been changed through the expansion of road networks; the naming of its streets after African countries and prominent personalities by the former Provisional Administration of Arkebe Oqubay; the construction of condominiums along with other real estate developments; as well with the erection of hotels and several other service giving institutions.

The University of Applied Sciences in Berlin participated in the preparation of the latest map.

Sultan Mohammed, general manager of EMA, told Fortune that the standard of the second map is better than the one his agency produced three months before.

EMA develops maps and other geo-information for use by the government, Non Government Organizations (NGOs), private organizations and individuals.

The agency prepared a topographic map that covers the entire country. It has also developed the same type for Addis Abeba and Gambella Regional State.

For example, the one for Gambella provides details about investment activities in the region.

The latest map for Addis, on the other hand, provides directions and information on hotels, roads, diplomatic institutions and taxi stops.

Though the map was prepared within Addis Abeba, the city’s Master Plan Office did not participate in developing it.

“We were not invited to participate in the development of the map,” Ephrem Bekele, head of the office, told Fortune. “I just heard the news about the map from the media like every other individual.”

Officials at EMA, however, dismiss the claim.

“Though we wanted to include details from the Digital Line Map the city’s office developed in collaboration with the World Bank, we could not manage to get it from them,” a source from EMA said. “As a result the map doesn’t have information about telephone, power, water and sewerage lines,” the source told Fortune.

Related Posts

1. Addis Ababa City govt reclaims Omedla Hotel
2. Ethiopia – Addis Ababa City Administration to regain control of Police Commission
3. Addis Residents say city transport system is buckling
4. Proposed Greening of City Code to Be Introduced to Pittsburgh City Council
5. Wi-Fi Is About to Get a Whole Lot Easier