Google is under fire this week for the way the border is drawn on Google Maps between Cambodia and Thailand. According to Reuters,
Cambodia called for the Google Map’s immediate removal because it was not internationally recognised.
Cambodia made the complaint in a letter issued a day ahead of the first-ever visit to the border region by its outspoken prime minister, Hun Sen, a move likely to raise tension between the historic foes.
“(The map) is devoid of truth and reality, and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious,” Svay Sitha, secretary of state of the Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, wrote in the letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
“We therefore request that you withdraw the already disseminated, very wrong and not internationally recognised map and replace it,” he said.
Both countries have a heavy military presence along the border, where deadly clashes have occurred in the past three years.
Google’s Street View has come under fire numerous times over the past few years, but this is the first major blowup over a Google Earth map… although the issue has obviously come up before. Many Google Maps will show different borders depending on where the viewer is stationed if there is a dipute between 2 countries. Brian form the Googe Maps team says:
It is Google’s standard practice to show all disputed regions around the world on its global properties, such as on maps.google.com. It has been Google’s consistent and global policy to depict disputed regions as per the claims made by the disputing/claiming nations on its global properties. This does not in any way endorse or affirm the position taken by any side but merely provides complete information on the prevailing geo-political situation to our users of global properties in a dispassionate and accurate manner. Products that have been localized to the local domain of a region such as maps.google.co.in may depict that country’s position as per the mandate of their local laws.
See an example here.
Tags: cambodia, China, Google maps, Goojji, thailand