Celebrating mapping maestro Chantal Govender of GeoINT

The world of geospatial technology is forever changing. With every passing year there are new technologies, techniques, ideas and applications that push the industry forward. Not to mention how much our world is changing too. Keeping ahead of the curve and on top of it all is no mean feat, but Chantal Govender stands out and proves that it’s possible.

Chantal is a veteran of the industry. With more than 30 years of experience, she is a leading map editor at GeoINT, a company specialized in helping businesses gain insights from geospatial data to save costs and improve efficiency. As part of TomTom’s map editing partner program, Chantal has ranked as the top partner editor for the past two years, with the highest number of edits and greatest success rate.

Indeed, there’s not much Chantal hasn’t seen in her years making maps and working with geospatial data.

“I started mapping in 1992 with my first project being the eThekwini Municipality land audit,” Chantal tells us. “Then, I went on to create the first digital record of municipal boundaries of South Africa, transforming hard copies into digital formats using [ESRI’s] Arcview 3.2.”

Driving innovation through partnerships

Today, while still working on maps and data, Chantal also recognizes the value of partnerships and collaboration when it comes to mapmaking. As part of her work, she leads the Map Editing Partnership between MapIT, GeoINT’s Africa-based sub-brand, and TomTom.

To say that Chantal only leads this initiative is to downplay her influence and impact when it comes to helping us better understand Africa’s landscapes and geographies.

Working tirelessly to harness the power of location intelligence across Africa, driving innovation and positive change, Chantal has been a key figure in contributions to improving TomTom’s maps. She has facilitated 15,000 map editing transactions in Vertex, TomTom’s community map editing tool, and that’s just in the 15 months since October 2023.

TomTom's visual map editor, Vertex, is used by partners like Chantal to directly edit and update the TomTom Map database.

What’s more, the quality of these edits and transactions is incredibly high. Her team sets the benchmark with a record high commit success rate of 90% for first time map edit ingestion. In other words, most of the time her and her team’s edits are correct and accepted on the first go, exemplifying the care and accuracy of their work.

At the heart of mapping

It can’t be easy working with such dedicating and attention to detail for 30 years, but for Chantal remembering why she’s doing it, what value she’s creating in the world, is more than enough to remain steadfast in the pursuit of mapping and geospatial perfection.

“I simply enjoy knowing that someone out in the world is using the data to accurately navigate themselves to their point of interest,” she says.

The mapping industry wouldn’t be what it is without people like Chantal. Indeed, in TomTom’s Map Editing Partnership Program team we’re thankful that we get to work with such dedicated geospatial professionals – people who see what they do as more than a job, but as something that truly matters in the world. Without people like Chantal, our maps wouldn’t be as rich, detailed and fresh as they could be. She proves that collaborative mapping is the way forward.

Chantal’s work is without a doubt making maps more accurate and accessible, and helping more people and businesses make sense of their worlds. Her enthusiasm and commitment are what make all the difference.