3 interactive maps that will make your life easier in Cape Town

In order to make our lives a bit more convenient, a couple of developers in Cape Town, South Africa have conjured up some very nifty maps that we’ve decided to round up for you. By mostly crowdsourcing data from the public, and leveraging tools like Google Maps, these sites listed below have enabled us all to get a bird’s eye view of where what is in the Mother City.

Know where to find free Wi-Fi
The site is aptly titled Find Free Wi-Fi and lists hundreds of hotspots around South Africa — from Cape Town to Polokwane. Named one of the projects promoted by the World Design Capital Cape Town, the site has gathered Wi-Fi hotspots by crowdsourcing data from across the country.

You can click on the purple waypoints to find more information about the service and click on the map to add in your own locations.

Know where to pedal
South Africa has a pretty strong cycling culture. Cape Town Bicycle Map wants to help encourage more people to ride these eco-friendly contraptions. The map is stocked at key bookshops, information centres, bicycle shops and bicycle-friendly venues throughout Cape Town.

There are also both iOS and Android apps available and a print option.

Know when your electricity goes out
South Africa’s major electricity provider, ESKOM, is often forced to shut certain neighbourhoods’ power off. So much so that the company has created a schedule so that we’ll all know when to expect to be left in the dark. As mentioned on this site, the schedule provided can be confusing at times. This map makes it easier to read. You can choose the day and stage and hover over the time to see the impacted areas.

You can also leave the app running to see the areas change during the day.

We’re certain that there are a couple of other interactive maps that we can make use of in our day-to-day lives, so let us know in the comments which ones we’ve missed.

Image by Дуэт постановщиков из DewFrame via Flickr