"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

[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.