Big news: African continent gets Google Maps roads and streets

I noticed this comment on my world mashups post last today:

..So I decided to check in on the continent of Africa to see if I noticed anything different. Starting with the country of South Africa here is what I saw:

I noticed that there is now street and road maps for South Africa! It looks as though Johannesburg has street level maps while the city of Cape Town reveals major routes and unmarked secondary streets.

Throughout the rest of the continent countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt (to name just a few) all show major routes while some countries contain street level mapping for major cities. Here is a list of the known locations. (Know of more? Please post a comment at the bottom to let me know and I'll update the list):

• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Cairo, Egypt
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Rabat, Morocco
• Alger, Algeria

Placename searching on Google Maps also seems to work. For example - search for any of the above on Google Maps and it will plot that place on the map. For the most part, if you see the town or city labelled on the map, it can be searched, but streets and specific addresses within each of these places can't be plotted yet. I also haven't confirmed if these updates are available in the Google Maps API yet. Does anyone know? If so, sites like Wikimapia will improve for the African region. This latest update will make satellite sightseeing more relevant with cities, towns and roads in place to help you identify imagery you are viewing! :)

For note this brings the street and road mapped Google Maps "world" to: Japan, US, Canada, UK & Ireland, Most countries in Europe (excluding some Eastern European countries and including Moscow, Russia), Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Explore Google Maps to view these places..

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