"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

[johnnybrainwash.livejournal.com]

My best guess, and I don't really know, is that there are no current maps that are reliable enough to meet Google's standards. Georgia may have had more pressing concerns since the Soviet collapse than updating their maps, and Google probably wants to ensure a certain level of quality.

A lot of less-developed countries have only major highways marked (try Afghanistan and Zimbabwe), and I'm pretty sure I've seen other countries with nothing at all.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

The cities haven't changed their names or locations in decades, but they aren't marked. If you search for them GoogleMaps proves it actually has their positions in its database, because it will find them (Search for Sukhumi for instance). So it can't be ascribed to lack of precision. The lack of names on the map is weird. I can't imagine an honest reason for it.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has a fairly detailed (2,529 x 1,872 pixel) map at
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Georgia_high_detail_map.png
in their article on Georgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country))