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Maps are the scaffolding of the digital age. Without them, and their associated data, a technological revolution is impossible. Vast swathes of Africa are still not mapped to a true local scale. That means governments face huge problems when tackling rapid urbanisation on this fast changing continent – they simply don’t know where people are. It also means that when outbreaks of disease occur, mapping the spread of infections is all but impossible.

Katie Prescott travels to Rwanda, to Kigali, which is rapidly changing its layout and erasing signs of the past, to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the maps just seem to stop, and to Tanzania’s commercial hub of Dar Es Salaam, to hear how community mapping projects run by students are helping to tackle flooding, and outbreaks of cholera. If it is not possible to manage what is not measured, how can communities help themselves to gather data?

With governments intent on technology focused economies, and young populations eager to harness the commercial power of the smartphone, how does a lack of location data hamper progress? Can cheap drones help, and why have maps always been so expensive to produce?

Katie meets young Africans determined to forge new careers in new technology sectors, and African healthcare entrepreneurs distributing lifesaving blood, despite maps not even showing where the hospitals are. Maps may seem like an ancient concept, but they’re essential for Africa’s modern economies. We also ask why maps are a commercial product more so now than ever.

Image: Africa as pictured on a map (Credit: Science Photo Library)