Tuesday August 16, 2016

I've Been Thinking:

All maps are political. And Google Maps is in the middle of a huge conflict over their maps.

Over the past few weeks Google has been accused of removing Palestine from their maps. The company has responded by saying that they never did have Palestine as a separate country. Some voices are saying that Google should show Israel's occupation of Palestine.

The argument is not unique to Israel and Palestine.

There are similar arguments about Crimea. The argument is whether Google maps should show Crimea as part of Ukraine or, now that it is under Russian control, should they show Crimea as part of Russia.

And what about the Kurds who control areas in Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Should they show the Kurdish controlled areas? And what about ISIS controlled regions? Should people know which areas are under the control of ISIS? But then again, does showing all that automatically signify acceptance of their right to control the area?

Goggle is in a difficult position. We need their maps - and we want to be up-to-date in terms of geographical shifts and changes in territory.

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