Jain has bustled actively about this calling. He has visited the local Honda Siel and the erstwhile Daewoo plants to map them; he labelled the helipad, the under construction hotel and the driving range at the Jaypee Greens Golf Club; he has marked hospitals and petrol pumps and police stations; he slips into residential colonies; he wants to next visit and map Atta Market, Noida’s version of Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk.
On these expeditions, Jain carries printouts of the satellite photos, and with his GPS-enabled Nokia E71, he flicks rapidly through the extant maps to spot gaps that need filling in. “Even when I go for a haircut, I carry Post-It notes, to write down the names of businesses in the area, so that I can fill them in when I get home,” he says.
Jain has done enough good work on Map Maker to be awarded the status of “moderator”, with powers to approve, or turn down changes by others. But even his additions are sometimes rejected by other moderators. On his phone, he pulls up an email from a moderator named Anu, who questioned his inclusion of high-tension power lines.
The incentive, for ardent mappers such as Jain, is twofold, Katragadda feels. “I went out and mapped the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, which is essentially my hometown,” he says. “It’s emotionally very satisfying to see the place where you grew up incarnate itself on a map. It feels tactile, it feels real.”
But also, Katragadda adds, many people are just too fed up at the lack of a reliable map. “Given that, it’s very useful for me and my friends to add the 10 things we know,” he says. “It isn’t a selfish motive. Because when they take time out to add these things that they know, they’re really just being good Samaritans.”