How Machine Learning Will Lead to Better Maps

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, in Qatar, digital maps are lagging behind. While the country is adding new roads and constantly improving old ones in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar isn't a high priority for the companies that actually build out maps, like Google. "While visiting Qatar, we've had experiences where our Uber driver can't figure out how to get where he's going, because the map is so off," Sam Madden, a professor at MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, said in a prepared statement. "If navigation apps don't have the right information, for things such as lane merging, this could be frustrating or worse." It's faster, cheaper, and way easier to obtain satellite images than it is for a tech company to drive around grabbing street-view photos.