Google maps is great for exploring the world from your armchair. If you type in an address for most major cities, you'll come up with an exact location on a map.

Well, "most major cities" hadn't included Lagos... until now. I noticed that Google had already added detailed satellite mapping of Lagos to its maps, so I figured that labelled mapping wasn't too far behind - and I wasn't wrong, as can be seen by the photo below:

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I remember coming across my first atlas while still growing up. Up to that time, I had a limited notion of place and space - but I was mesmerised by the sheer number of places that were revealed to me by this magic book. I imagined Brazzaville as a lively, energetic place; I wondered what life was like in Ulan Bator; and I reckoned from the way it was shown on the map, they must do nothing but eat and sleep in Montevideo.

One thing I definitely do remember was that there was a real...