"Don't be evil"

[miriam_e]

That is the slogan used by Google.
Are they living up to it? We all remember how they bowed immediately to censorship in China. That was a big disappointment.
Now Georgia has disappeared* from GoogleMaps.

[*I've since been told Georgia was never on GoogleMaps, but this is no less puzzling than a recent disappearance would be. Maps of that region have been available for decades. What possible reason would there be for omitting such a world trouble-spot?]

http://twxr.us/1a5

or see on GoogleMaps itself:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&ie=UTF8&ll=41.926803,44.648438&spn=4.119432,7.349854&z=7

Bummer.

Additional: There is a very nice 2,529 x 1,872 map on Wikipedia at
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Georgia_high_detail_map.png
in the article there on Georgia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country)

Comments

[dances-withcats.livejournal.com]

Wow. Georgia's gone all Bermuda Triangle and stuff!

It is perhaps, as greylock suggested, an attempt to remove that layer of information that could help "the enemy" target some bombable locations. After all, the US is a strong ally/supporter of Georgia, and it is possible that Google caved to government insistence that all that information be removed.

I'll have to check Google Earth and see the satellite maps, too. Satellite images may either be old or censored in order to avoid civilian snooping or snooping by other countries' intelligence agencies.

Edit: Apparently Armenia and Azerbaijan no longer have roads, mountains and rivers, either!