A clear explanation
Afribit chose to grow the directory through real merchant onboarding instead of waiting for a perfect mapping pass before businesses could be seen. That decision made visibility and participation possible earlier, but it also meant some public coordinates depended on the quality of the devices available in the field.
How the first merchant locations were collected
Afribit opened merchant onboarding through its registration flow so business owners could submit their details quickly and begin participating in the Bitcoin circular economy without waiting for every listing to be captured only through a separate field-device workflow.
That flow was designed to support stronger location capture, offline drafts, and status updates, and it gave Afribit a faster way to bring real businesses into the directory. After submission, validators still reviewed the merchant details before the business was published into public references and mapping surfaces.
Why a real business can still have an imperfect pin
A public map point depends on the quality of the device capturing it. In practice, lower-end phones can report broad error ranges, especially when the merchant is indoors, under roofing, or surrounded by dense structures that interrupt satellite visibility.
Kibera also has tightly packed businesses. When several shops, kiosks, or stalls operate within a few meters of each other, even a modest GPS error can place the public point on the wrong doorway while the business itself remains genuine and verified.
Why the listings are still trustworthy
Afribit did not rely on raw GPS alone to decide whether a business was real. Merchant details, neighborhood context, and human review all mattered before a listing was confirmed and represented publicly.
That means a pin may still need refinement, but the merchant identity, the Bitcoin acceptance claim, and the underlying business relationship are not based on coordinates alone.
How map accuracy is being improved
Afribit is improving location quality by revisiting coordinates, using better collection practices, and prioritizing neighborhood-first discovery so people can still find businesses even before every exact point is recaptured.
As stronger coordinates are confirmed, Afribit can keep refining the OpenStreetMap and BTC Map references tied to those merchants. The result is a directory that stays useful today while becoming more precise over time.
How to use the merchant map right now
Treat the current map as a trusted discovery tool, especially at neighborhood level. Merchant profiles, category filters, and local context remain useful even when a specific public point still needs a tighter recapture.
If you are visiting a merchant, use the neighborhood label, the business name, and nearby context together. That is the best way to navigate while Afribit continues improving coordinate accuracy across the directory.