Being one of the world’s leading online web mapping service means also trying to walk the impossible tightrope between the political bickering of countries. More than a few times has Google found itself in the middle of a maelstrom involving the geopolitical delineations and labels shown in Google Maps and Google Earth.
Google has now raised the ire of Iranians over its refusal to label the waters between Iran and the Arab Gulf states on Google Maps. Iranians call this gulf the Persian Gulf while Arabs have named it the Arabian Gulf. The government of Iran is now threatening to escalate the situation through litigation against Google for removing the label. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast declared via the state-run Press TV on May 17, 2012:
“Toying with modern technologies in political issues is among the new measures by the enemies against Iran, (and) in this regard, Google has been treated as a plaything.”
Mehmanparast went on to say that if Google doesn’t restore the label, a complaint against Google will be made. Typing in a search on Google Maps for the Persian Gulf takes the searcher to the correct geographic location but the body of water is unlabeled. A search within Google Earth shows the same location retains both the Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf labels. Google’s explanation for the lack of a label on Google Maps was provided anonymously by a company spokesperson, “It’s just simply the case that we don’t have a label for every body of water.”
The July/August 2010 edition of the Washington Monthly has an interesting piece entitled, “The Agnostic Cartographer: How Google’s open-ended maps are embroiling the company in some of the world’s touchiest geopolitical disputes” on the political cartographic controversies that Google has become enmeshed in. Robert Boorstin, the director of Google’s public policy team states, “We work to provide as much discoverable information as possible so that users can make their own judgments about geopolitical disputes.” Yet, despite this approach, Google has been the target of ire by various nations over the designation of disputed geographic areas.
The article highlights several cases such as the government of Cambodia over the depiction of a disputed border with Thailand near an eleventh-century Khmer temple complex in Preah Vihear Province. A formal letter of complaint was written to Google and ‘a senior Cambodian official very publicly declared Google’s representation of the border “devoid of truth and reality, and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious,” not to mention “very wrong and not internationally recognized.”’ Google was also sued by the Israeli city of Kiryat Yam for libel “after a Palestinian civilian named Thameen Darby went on Google Earth and tagged the town as the site of an Arab village destroyed by Israelis in 1948.”
Based on a 3,000 meter difference in the demarcation of the boundary line between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, a Nicaraguan military commander moved his troops into Costa Rica and set up camp. Eden Pastora, the commander, used the maps as a justification for taking down a Costa Rican flag and doing clean up work along the river. SearchEngineLand noted the international incident based on a Google translation of an article posted in the Costa Rican newspaper, La Nacion. In the article, Pastora defends his actions, stating,
“See the satellite photo on Google and there you see the border. In the last 3,000 meters the two sides are from Nicaragua. From there to El Castillo, the border itself is the right bank, is clarito ” Pastor argued.
The boundary between the countries in that area differs significantly on Google Maps compared to Bing Maps and Yahoo! Maps (see below). Both Bing and Yahoo! reflect the border differently. While many sites on the Internet are buzzing with this Google Map “error”, the reality of where to border should be isn’t so clear. TechEurope of the Wall Street Journal reports:
The sovereignty of the area affected, around Harbour Head along the San Juan river between the two countries, is hotly disputed.
… [I]n a statement to Tech Europe, the Nicaraguan Embassy in London said: “The Government of Nicaragua has formally requested to Google not to accept the petition of Costa Rica to modify the border demarcation presented on Google Maps service, which recognizes Harbour Head as Nicaraguan territory. The path presented by Google corresponds to the various treaties that define the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border.”
To that end:
Google declined to go into any detail, saying only: “We are aware of the issue and are currently investigating it. If we determine that our map is incorrect we will update the data as quickly as possible.”
Google has also pointed inquiries to their July post on Google Lat Long about resolving border disputes.
After reviewing the situation, Google determined that the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border depiction was incorrect and will be updated:
“We determined that there was indeed an error in the compilation of the source data, by up to 2.7 km (1.6 mi),” Google’s Charlie Hale wrote. “The U.S. Department of State has provided a corrected version and we are now working to update our maps.”
Source: Google corrects mistake after Nicaragua blames site’s maps for invasion of Costa Rica – NY Daily News
Add another complaint to the litany against Google Maps. This time, the complaint isn’t about boundaries but about labeling. Brazilian officials are irate with Google over the scale dependent labels being used in Rio de Janeiro. When zoomed out, city officials say that too much prominence is given to favelas over tourist designations. Favelas are shanty towns found all around the city of Rio de Janeiro. Globo, a Brazilian newspaper, has protested that the labeling makes “false impression that the urban area is nothing more than an immense cluster of favelas.” BBC reports:
The middle class neighbourhood of Cosme Velho – where tourists take the cable car up to the famous statue of Christ – is not labelled, but the smaller Favela da Villa Imaculate Conceicao is.
Sugar Loaf mountain is also not marked and in Humaita, the favela area is labelled in the same size text as the entire district.
Representatives from Google have agreed to rework the scale dependent labels to take into account feedback about which sites should be prominently labeled. Read more: Google to amend Rio maps over Brazil favela complaints
Ire over map edits isn’t something exclusive to Google’s mapping efforts.
In late 2006, the Georgia Department of Transportation revised their state maps, removing over 500 small towns and hamlets from thei Official Highway and Transporation map. This move has angered many living in those small rural areas and has led to accusations of “urban conceit”.
- Cartography Edits Anger Some – Georgia towns stung after being wiped off map, Christian Science Monitor
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