Empowering local communities in Zanzibar with Street View

Driving growth together

Mapping at scale is a challenge. So the WT360 team joined forces with twelve student volunteers from the State University of Zanzibar to help map the beautiful island of Unguja. Guided by the expertise of Federico, Nickolay and Chris, they captured 1,700 kilometres of footage.

As Zanzibar evolves, Federico’s team regularly refreshes 360 images of local streets to help support infrastructure development, and attract new visitors to the country.

Taking businesses global with 360 imagery

Earlier this year, Federico began exploring the northern island of Pemba. In just six days, Federico and Ibrahim Khalid, a former student volunteer, captured over 500 kilometres of images and 40 aerial panoramas, which they uploaded to Google Maps using Street View Studio.

With accurate footage of tourist attractions, heritage sites, hotels and businesses, they were able to create the National Global Tour of Zanzibar, an imagery platform that has been growing quickly and that promotes the islands worldwide.

From mapping to job creation

When Federico first met Shamymu Yassin, she was a student who was hoping to become a drone pilot. Driven by the commitment to enhance Zanzibar's future, Shamymu turned to the WT360 team to learn about Street View technology. She was taught the best camera to use, how to capture images and how to upload them to Google Maps. Shamymu soon mastered these skills and went on to become a professional photographer, exploring and mapping Zanzibar's islands for a living.

Federico, Shamymu and Ibrahim are currently working on uploading new aerial images of Zanzibar, with a focus on the latest developed areas, new businesses and renovated hotels. And with the opening of Zanzibar's amusement park, their mission keeps growing.

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Laying the groundwork to map Zanzibar and empower locals

Learn more about how the Zanzibar government and WT360 photographers started the project to map the country.

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Mapping at scale in Zanzibar: smarter and faster data publishing with Street View Studio

Image and camera quality has improved since 2019, and with the launch of Street View Studio publishing imagery has become easier and faster. Photographers can upload multiple 360 videos at the same time, monitor progress, search for uploaded material by place or original filename, and plan for their future collections using interactive map layers.

Building the future

Project Zanzibar started with the goal to empower and educate local students to map their country, and has since made a global impact. Three years in, the project has brought local businesses to the fore, and unlocked career opportunities for former volunteers like Shamymu and Ibrahim.