Rio de Janeiro is home to over one thousand favelas (slum neighborhoods), but it would be easy to overlook these enormous and integral communities for the simple reason that they do not show up on cartographic representations of the city. Maps (with Google Maps being the most obvious example) are currently missing a huge part of cities such as Rio by skipping over these neighborhoods.
Brazilian NGO AfroReggae hopes to change that. The organization, which works to solve issues in Brazilian cities through social projects and educational initiatives, has partnered with JWT Brazil for the project ‘Ta No Mapa!‘, meaning ‘It’s on the map!’. The groups aim to put favelas on the map, the same as any other streets and businesses are, by canvassing the favelas one by one, and calling on the neighborhoods’ younger residents to help by plotting shops, restaurants and other businesses. The initiative has started with a North Zone community, Parade de Lucas, but will hopefully spread to other favelas and even other cities as the project gains traction. It remains unclear as to how this data will make the leap from the project website to platforms such as Google, but simply procuring the data is a crucial first step.
Check out further details in the clip below:
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- Photo source: AfroReggae / Ta No Mapa