Brazil is known for many beauties, but the government wants to keep the poorer locations hidden as uncharted territories, at least in its maps. The dense working-class neighborhoods that are often called "the slums" or favelas are not mapped on either physical or online maps.
In the past, residents have begun mapping the communities themselves with the hope that more public services will be provided to them. Now Google and Microsoft are joining the efforts to map every inch of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
"A lot of companies are doing this because they know that these are customers and they're no longer excluded from the economic system of Brazil," says Ronaldo Lemos, the director of the Institute of Technology and Society in Rio de Janeiro. "It's good business to map the favelas."
The favelas in Rio are not the most pristine images of the city. But they currently make up about a quarter of the population, even though they are not located on any maps. Since the World Cup is one of the most watched sporting events, some residents of the neighborhoods were forced to leave their homes so that Brazilian officials could enhance the areas surrounding the stadiums during this last major soccer event.
"The power of putting [favelas] on a map and giving them an online presence is really important to opening them up and getting them integrated into the city," says Esteban Walther, Google's director of marketing for Latin America.
Google Maps and Bing Maps are crowdsourcing information about the favelas from the locals. But some feel like the tech giants are getting involved merely to turn a profit. Reaching customers in the developing world is critical for markets in the U.S. Getting more people to use the maps will allow the companies to gather user data, show ads and sell applications to monetize on their tools.
Brazil's favelas were once known for crime, but now represent economic opportunity. Policies like social-welfare programs have helped Brazilians climb out from the clutches of poverty. According to Google, more than 85 percent of the 1.5-million favela residents now have mobile phones. And with more people going online, the companies don't want to miss out on a profit.
Microsoft is mapping two specific favelas, Vidigal and Maré, with the help of local organizations and city officials. People are walking the streets of the slums with their smartphones, entering in prime locations like schools and shops that are then entered into Bing's database.
Google Maps is working in the favelas Rocinha, Caju and Vidigal and will also use smartphones in the streets to record locations that are plotted on the map.
"As we bring more users online, we of course get more advertising," says Lucio Tinoco, the head of Microsoft's Bing search-engine department in Brazil. Both companies declined to comment on how much the project will cost them.
