"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

[sharpblonde.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Besides this whole issue of proper maps in trouble areas, this post just points out to me how America-centric the media makes people. I don't know about in other areas, but certainly in Canada and the U.S.. I thought of Georgia the U.S. State, before I thought of the country... and I always seem to.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Heheheh The news of Russia invading and bombing it must have been a bit worrying then. :)

The first thing I think of when I hear of Georgia is the Beatles' song "Back in the USSR", so our culture has far reaching effects on us all. Georgia existed many decades before the Beatles mentioned it only a couple of times in the chorus, but that song is what my mind zeros in on.

Looking on Wikipedia, Georgia is a beautiful place. Agriculture and tourism are their two big money earners. I bet they are regretting the oil pipeline and the gas pipeline through their country that seem to have brought the Russians invading. I don't think it will have helped their tourist industry much. Poor Georgians.