Back in May we released a custom version of Maptual, our platform for distributing beautiful maps created from our data to mobile devices in a portable, tiled format. Maptual:Kabul features our detailed 1:5000 scale data for Kabul, Afghanistan – one of several city-detail datasets we’ve produced and field-verified – and has attracted a lot of interest from users across government, NGOs, local businesses in-country, and other international organizations.

We’ve just recently released an upgraded custom version with the backing of AGCHO, the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office. Their support over the last year has enabled our local teams to conduct field collection efforts more efficiently, and we’re in turn helping them improve the quality and breadth of their national mapping program.

The app allows you to switch between several layers: our 1:5000 scale city street map, Google Maps view and Satellite view, and the MapQuest OpenStreetMap layer. Our data is incredibly rich, and displays building footprints, field-verified street names (official and colloquial names), hydrologic features, bridges, canals, and a basic subset of the landuse data. We also have localized attributes for Kabul complete in both Dari and Pashto – maps in both languages will be coming in future months as custom maps available through Maptual’s platform, along with maps for several other cities and provinces.

For you technical types that want to know more, come back and visit the blog tomorrow for more detail on how we built the map, and the toolsets we use to develop the app and map cartography.

If you’re attending the Special Operations Summit next week (we will be!), drop byBooth #3 and come check out the app and our other Afghanistan maps.