1 Notes
Mapping Ghana’s Courts.
Check out this really cool map of courts in Accra, Ghana, produced by mapper extraordinaire Fiifi Baidoo. While it may seem simple to people used to the 3D satellite map-viewing experience of San Francisco, it represents an important accomplishment in Accra.
Until now, the Judicial Service of Ghana has not systematically mapped its court locations in the country. [It has, however, started to put recent judgments online for public viewing, which is a majorly cool thing.] Supplied with a list of courts and phone numbers, Fiifi physically visited each site in the country’s capital to record the coordinates using Google Map Maker. He also took a picture and uploaded basic court contact information to the place description. This map should be in the Judicial Service website shortly and the plan in the coming months is to expand this mapping work to the rest of the country.
As internet penetration spreads in Ghana (particularly on mobile phones), court participants (citizens and lawyers alike) will have more information about where to access justice. In addition, this mapping work offers the Judicial Service a birds-eye view of its footprint in the country.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this project progresses and would be curious to hear any notions for how we could improve the information made available.
