A more detailed Google Maps is now available to South Africans at www.google.co.za/maps. New additions to Google Maps South Africa include support for finding local businesses; driving directions to locations in South Africa; as well the ability to create personalised maps using My Maps. A lot of the map data has also been updated in cities such as Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Local Business Centre
For business owners the addition of Google Maps’ Local Business Centre (www.maps.google.com/lbc) creates an opportunity to not only list their businesses on Maps, but also to provide details such as opening hours, credit cards accepted, telephone numbers and photos. User of Maps are also able to access this info online via their PCs or cellphones when searching for the appropriate service. Since Google is dependent on user generated content for the growth of Local Business Centre, this listing is completely free of charge.

Driving Directions
Driving directions to and from places in South Africa has also been enhanced. Turn by turn directions are available as well as predicted travel times, with the ability to reroute simply by dragging and dropping the route suggested by Google Maps. It is not only drivers that will benefit from this, but also people that are walking, since walking directions within certain cities can also be requested.

My Maps
Users of the Google Maps South Africa beta can also create their own personalised maps, with the ability to make it public or keep it private. A number of South African celebrities including the band Freshlyground and singer Thandiswa Mazwai have already created their own maps. These maps include their favourite places to eat and drink, nice walks to take and places to see in and around the cities they live in. 

There is a certain sense of urgency driving the Google South Africa team to get Maps ready for the FIFA World Cup. At the launch held today in Midrand Steven Newton, country manager for Google South Africa, discussed their plans for Google Maps with Street View for South Africa to be up and running before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was hesitant to give specifics about when the services will go live though.