Google Maps and geo-politics

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Google’s policy to offer multi-interpretations or “open-ended” maps has embroiled the company in some of the world’s hottest geo-political disputes. The World’s Anchor Marco Werman interviews John Gravois, a writer and editor based in the Middle East, who recently wrote for the Washington Monthly on the issue. Download MP3

Here is the U.S. version of Google Maps (maps.google.com) and Arunachal Pradesh.

View Larger Map

Below is the version of Google Maps use in India (maps.google.co.in/) and Arunchal Pradesh.

View Larger Map

Here is the version of Google maps used in China (ditu.google.cn/) and Arunchal Pradesh.

查看大图

• John Gravois’ report: The Agnostic Cartographer
• Cyber espionage in China

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: Google’s had its own problems with privacy concerns recently. They had to do with private information collected at street-level for its Google Maps application. Our next interview is about another issue affecting Google Maps. Earlier this week, the company announced significant improvements to borders for more than 60 countries and regions displayed on Google Maps and Google Earth. Those improvements follow criticism of the way the online giant displayed areas where borders are disputed or not fully defined. Google strives to present boundaries in a neutral way. But that can be very hard to do in some controversial regions. John Gravois is an editor with Washington Monthly and he’s written about how Google Maps had stepped right into some touchy geo-political disputes. John, give us a few examples of this.

JOHN GRAVOIS:  Well, one day last August suddenly a bunch of the towns and landmarks in the northern Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh turned Chinese on Google Maps. One minute they were in Hindi and the next minute they were in Mandarin, which was touchy because India and China have been fighting over this province for decades. China claims it, India runs it, and right after this fluke appeared to make matters even worse, China and India were sitting down for talks to try resolve this issue.

WERMAN:  And how did that map mistake happen in the first place? Did Google in China make the change? Or did Google in the US make the change?

GRAVOIS: It’s a bit of a mystery, but a very smart blogger named Stefan Geens who blogs about Google Earth, came up with a good theory. Google has different maps platforms in different countries that have to abide by those country’s laws. Google has a maps platform in China that is served in China and Chinese law dictates that all maps have to represent Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet and as part of China. So on that map all the names are in Mandarin. So Stefan Geens, this blogger, guessed that maybe all the data from that database accidentally got switched onto the general global Google Maps site. A lot of bloggers in India suspected something much more nefarious. They thought Google must have been conspiring with China or that Chinese hackers must have broken in and sort of staged a digital invasion of Arunachal Pradesh.

WERMAN: Yeah, a big mystery for sure. And Google has strived to be neutral so users can make their own judgment. Why do you think that’s not working?

GRAVOIS: Well in a way, Google’s striving to be too neutral for many people’s tastes. In the Middle East there’s a very long standing dispute over the name of the body of water that stretches between Iran and the Arab Gulf states.

WERMAN: Right. It’s either the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf depending on how you see it.

GRAVOIS: Yeah, I was hesitating to say it. And traditional maps have always chosen one name. Usually they choose Persian Gulf. But Google Maps decided to represent both names and Iranians got very, very upset about this. One of the largest petition campaigns on the Internet right now is to get Google to remove Arabian Gulf immediately and unconditionally and something like 1.2 million people have signed it, mainly Iranians.

WERMAN: So, I see what you mean by being too neutral, but now Google has announced changes to naming points on maps. What do you think about these changes and what are we likely to see now?

GRAVOIS: Well, a lot of this is just Google refining its information. Paper mapmakers just had to draw a line that was accurate on one resolution. When you can zoom in so closely that you can see the flags flying on a border post between Cambodia and Thailand, you have to make sure your border is accurate at that resolution, too, which is tough. So a lot of Google’s changes are just increasing the accuracy at higher and higher resolutions.

WERMAN:  Do you feel Google now has this kind of special responsibility because in a way Google Maps has evolved into the World Atlas of record. There’s no longer the Rand McNally map you had on your shelf in your living room.

GRAVOIS: It does have a special responsibility and it’s faced with a special difficulty. Back in the day the most authoritative mapmakers were states and even superpowers. The British, they used maps to fuel their colonial expansion. Now, Google, by kind of taking the baton in becoming the kind of, the biggest mapmaker around has made its commitment to being a kind of agnostic cartographer even more difficult.

WERMAN: John Gravois, an editor at Washington Monthly magazine. Thank you very much.

GRAVOIS: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.