Right now I’m thinking more of ease-of-use and accessibility to mapping tools in general, not the specific map source. For instance, at first blogging was a bit of a headache for most non-tech guys. People couldn’t understand how to simply get an image up on their blog or create a link without knowing HTML. Then, along came the simple blog engines that got past the “techese” and made blogging accessible by the masses.

I hadn’t really thought of any analogies between microblogging and micromapping. Since microblogging is determined by amount of content, I’m not sure if there’s a direct comparison there – can you do just “little maps”? Maybe… I’ve got to think on that one.

Now, as to whether the big blogging engines will add things like geo-tagging and geo-rss, I’m hesitant to think that they will. WordPress is usually the leader in doing anything innovative – primarily because it’s an open source initiative that allows hackers from all over the world to plunge in and have fun with their platform. Of course, there are plug-ins for the system, but untl there is enough of a cry from (or trends in use by) the general public, I don’t see them adding it to the core (WordPress.com). There’s a chance that Google might make some tool that allows for easy linking/sharing between Google Maps and Blogger I guess too, but I’d be surprised to see it happen anytime soon.

Alright, on to Africa. First we need to get some good geolocation data for Africa, then we can start thinking of better ways to mash up mobiles and maps there. However, I will say this, there are some really interesting things that could be done around “mobile marketplaces” that allow you to see who is buying/selling things within your hyper-local area. The same could be said of “events” and a social networking tool that pivots off of hyperlocation data. As the mobile phone is the primary access point in Africa, it would be pretty interesting to try some things out there. Speaking of which, I need to find out if it’s possible to do the location tracking off of cell towers in Africa as easily as it is done in the West.

Thanks for the great questions!

Sorry for the 20 questions, but I like your idea!

I am trying to make it to Where 2.0 and if I can, look forward to your talk…

@Matthew – I thought about adding in early publishing tools like Geocities, but decided to try and stay with a more “purist” definition of blog software.

@Ntwiga – I was a fun exercise, regardless of whether anyone else finds it useful.