Android device owners can now navigate Ghana with Google Maps

Users of android devices in Ghana can now move or drive about freely and easily to locations following Google’s introduction and upgrade of maps application in the country, which now has voice prompt upgrade. Google Ghana introduced Google Maps Navigation recently to enable owners of android devices such as smart phones and iphones have comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-go maps with built in local search, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation to all kinds of places. Mrs Estelle Akofio-Sowah, Country Manager, Google Ghana said on Wednesday that for a while now users of Google Maps in Ghana had been able to get direction whether sitting in their cars or whether walking in Ghana but receiving the information in text form while driving or walking using their phones. But she said: “Now what we have done now is to improve the safety of that, because you will not be driving and using your phone at the same time anymore. You now have a voice that tells you in five meters take a right turn and if you miss that turning it will redirect you. It is now giving you a voice prompt turn-by-turn navigation to get to your destinations”. She said this during an experiential session with the media, IT experts, representatives from the Fidelity Bank and the Ghana Tourism Authority; and students from the Valley View University and Ghana Telecom University, who shared their experiences on the use of Google Maps. Mrs Akofio-Sowah said in terms of content, Google Ghana had improved tremendously in enriching the information on maps with the support of users. In Ghana, she said, the maps project started four years ago and that it was important for people to get more and more interested to make life easy for them. “There is pretty much information on every street name in Ghana that is known now on Google Maps. The efforts we driving now is really to showcase that people can use Google Maps to tell the world where they are. It is really simple,” she added. Jacqueline Rajuai, Programme Manager, Google Maps, underscored the need to ensure constant updating of information on the maps with the changing times in order to keep them fresh always for users. “Maps are now simple to use and easy to understand by every single person… Maps bring data to life,” she said and noted that last year in 2012 globally about one billion Google Maps applications were downloaded. Again, Rajuai said, Over 800,000 websites last year had Google Maps embedded in them. The Greater Accra Regional Minister Julius Debrah expressed happiness with the development and introduction of Google Maps Navigation in Ghana and noted that hitherto people carried all kinds of devices with navigation and vehicles with navigation screens yet they were not functional and did not have an idea what benefit they were. But, he added, today with the effort of Google Ghana, we have solutions to almost all our needs just on a mobile device. Users of Google Maps can now discover great places in Ghana to eat, drink, shop and play. They can search to find addresses, places and businesses around the country and get voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions, and find their ways by train, bus, subway or walking directions.

Source: GNA

NITA to collaborate with Microsoft

The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) is collaborating with Microsoft to develop the capacity of the government to use ICT in delivering services to citizens. This was disclosed to the Ghana News Agency by Mr William Tevie, Director General of NITA after holding discussions with Mr Ali Famwawi, Vice President of Microsoft in Accra. “I am very happy that Microsoft is collaborating with NITA,” Mr Tevie said. He said NITA is adopting an open software policy for government network in addition to procurement of volume product licenses for government agencies from Microsoft to reduce cost of ICT at the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) . He said provision would also be made for the MDAs which are using other open source software on the network. “NITA is on course to expanding the network to cover the whole country by 2015,” Mr Tevie added. According to him, the second phase of the expansion of the government network is currently ongoing to bring on board 60 new base stations to add to the 30 existing ones. “A national data centre in Accra and a secondary data centre in Kumasi are also due to be completed by the end of year.” Mr Famwawi, who was in the country for the launch of the Hope City Project in Accra said Microsoft is going to collaborate with NITA to train government officials, build the technical capacity of NITA to support government ICT and to help Parliament with ICT solutions and training. He said Microsoft is working on delivering unique identifiers and assist NITA to deploy MS SharePoint collaboration tools to enhance productivity within the MDAs. Other areas being considered are skilled support for government business. NITA is the government IT agency responsible for ensuring MDAs use ICT in government business and at costs that are minimal. NITA has rolled out a government fibre optic network around the Ministries enclave in Accra and a WiMAX Wireless network across the 10 Regional capitals. It is servicing the network by buying bulk bandwidth at a cheaper price and is sharing it to government agencies.

Source: GNA

YouTube Launches Subscription Fees

YouTube has launched a trial scheme for paid channels on its website. Under the pilot programme, a small number of content makers will offer the channels for subscriptions starting at $0.99 (£0.64) a month. Each channel will offer a free 14-day trial and many will have discounted annual rates. Although the initial 53-channel line-up is fairly niche, one expert suggested the move might ultimately squeeze some smaller rivals out of the market. YouTube, which is owned by Google, said the launch was part of an effort to enable "content creators to earn revenue for their creativity". For example, the children's television favourite, Sesame Street will offer full episodes on its pay channel when it launches. Subscribers can pay using either their credit cards or through Google's own Wallet service. The paid channels involved in the pilot are diverse. They include National Geographic Kids, Acorn - which provides episodes from several British TV series -and Fix My Hog Premium, which is aimed at Harley Davidson motorcycle enthusiasts. "This is just the beginning", YouTube said on its blog. "We'll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners. "And as new channels appear, we'll be making sure you can discover them." Traditional TV turn-off? The advent of paid channels on YouTube means Google joins Netflix, Hulu and Amazon in offering subscription-based alternatives to traditional pay-TV. "The wider picture here is that the internet and TV worlds are colliding," Ian Maude, an online media expert at consultants Enders Analysis told the BBC. "The YouTube move will make it much harder for smaller standalone online subscription-based platforms because Google has the infrastructure to make it easy for content to be hosted, delivered and billed for. "But it was always inevitable that Google was going to do this." One billion viewers Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65bn. The service is believed to generate a small amount of revenue from advertising, but the vast majority of its content has been free-to-watch. To make itself more attractive to potential advertisers, YouTube has gradually added professional content, such as full-length films and TV shows, to its vast library of amateur videos. YouTube says a billion people around the world use the service every month. "If YouTube were a country, we'd be the third largest in the world after China and India," the company said in March.

Source: BBC