
The Geek Behind Google's Map Quest - chickenbane
http://www.fastcompany.com/3060811/most-creative-people/the-geek-behind-googles-map-quest
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chickenbane
I did a double-take reading this:

    
    
      Google Maps appears differently depending on the country 
      of your IP address, allowing the company to stay on the
      right side of the law in the many jurisdictions where it
      operates. Log in from China, for instance, and Google Maps
      is strictly controlled by the government, which
      deliberately inserts errors into GPS systems close to
      sensitive locations.
    

I already knew Google Maps will be rendered differently based on your location
([http://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-
maps-d...](http://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-
depending-on-where-you-view-them/)) but this sentence is ambiguous - is Google
inserting the errors? How do you insert errors into GPS systems anyway?

Guessing this meant that the Chinese government's GPS systems send your device
incorrect lat/long coordinates near certain locations, but that seems counter-
productive - wouldn't that just tip off people they were near a sensitive
location?

~~~
niftich
Google.cn apparently is accurate to the Chinese GCJ-02 datum whereas
Google.com, and presumably others, aren't.

(Source seems to be the wiki author's observation, but see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_dat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China#GCJ-02))

