Continental Tyre SA has launched Our Continent, a crowdsourcing initiative intended to map the best on- and off-road destinations in SA.
The brand is calling on South African citizens to document their travels across the country, and to upload their pictures to Twitter, creating a jigsaw puzzle of what SA has to offer. "Celebrate the beauty of our amazing continent and spread the joy of exploration simply by sharing pics of your journey," the Our Continent site reads. "From city to savannah, coastline to mountaintop; whatever your adventure, we want to share it with you."
The process is simple. Just snap a photograph while on your travels and write a short caption for it. Then, ensuring your Twitter location sharing is on, tweet the image using the hashtag #ContiOffRoad or #ContiOnRoad. The image will then be added to the map on the Our Continent site.
A real-time feed of the latest images runs along the right side of the page, allowing users to easily view the newest uploads. Since launching the initiative, over 200 photographs have been shared using the hashtags, the majority of which document sites around Gauteng.
According to David Strom, mapping serves as one of the oldest ways of visualising data, and "crowdmapping" projects like Our Continent are creating more sophisticated ways for the public to get involved in mapping the world around us.
Those in need of a wheel replacement can access the Our Continent site on their desktop or mobile devices to find the closest Continental Tyre store, as the brand also mapped out all its South African stores on Our Continent.
Although the initiative is currently only running in SA, there are plans to expand into the rest of Africa.
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