MigsMobile.Net

Google is inviting Filipinos across the country to map their voting centers via a "Map Your Precinct" tool that will help voters get to their assigned polling station on Election Day, May 10, 2010. The "Map Your Precinct" campaign relies on the volunteer efforts of Filipinos who are encouraged to tag the locations of the voting centers they are familiar with on Google Map Maker, Google’s online map-editing tool. The tool can be accessed at

http://www.google.com.ph/intl/en/landing/elections2010/.

“As we saw during Typhoon Ondoy, updated digital maps can be very helpful in a variety of humanitarian situations," said Dan. "Now that election season is upon us, what better way to extend Google’s mission of organizing local information and making it useful to Pinoys than to involve the community in tagging voting centers on Google Map Maker.  By helping voters find and get to their correct voting centers on May 10, our aim is to help reduce confusion on where to vote, especially since your voting center may have changed from previous years."

Using the tool is as simple as dropping a pin on the correct location of the voting center on a map. After clicking on the "Find your precinct" button, users will be taken to a page where they can click on the "Help others find Precincts" link. They should input the name of the city where they are registered to vote. The site will then display the voting centers located in that city. Users should click on the name of the voting center they want to map, and then after the map expands, zoom into the map to find and verify the location of the voting center. Users can then click on the correct location to drop a pin, and then click the "Submit" button at the bottom. No technical expertise is required. The tool automatically aggregates input from users contributing the same information, which will go through the Google Map Maker peer moderation process.