Citing the Earthquake 2005 as the inspiration for him and Jabran Rafique to start digitally mapping Pakistan, Omer Sheikh asks some tough questions – and goes on to reveal the endless benefits of having access to national information.

About the speakers:

Jabran Rafique is a student of MSc Web Development at Staffordshire University, and has been involved in mapping Pakistan with the Google Map Maker project since 2008. He has been recogonized as one of the top contributors to collective mapping in the world and received a Distinguished Super Mapper award by Google in 2009. His work has been featured on official Google blogs, and runs Google Map Maker & Google Maps Pakistan fan groups. His most recent collaboration involves Omer Sheikh, regarding relief efforts in landslide hit area in Hunza Valley, Pakistan.

Omer is a technology enthusiast who believes that technology can help with innovative new solutions to problems in Pakistan. One of his key interests is in structuring and documenting the various aspects of Pakistan and life in it. In his opinion, aspects of life taken for granted in Pakistan need a fresh take and that Pakistanis should re-discover themselves through their collective assets; human, historical, cultural and aspirational. He is critical of the degradation all around in Pakistan; where instead of improving over time, quality of life and experience is deteriorating. He wants to see Lahore, his favourite city, managed in sustainable and informed ways.

Omer has a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science from LUMS and a graduate degree in Engineering Physics from Cornell University which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.