

Google Maps Caught in Border Dispute - mburney
http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2010/11/05/google-maps-caught-in-border-dispute/

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eli
There was a much longer article about Google Maps role in political disputes
earlier this year in Washington Monthly:
[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois....](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois.html)

" _Google maintains thirty-two different region-specific versions of its Maps
tool for different countries around the world that each abide by the
respective local laws._ "

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powera
It's amazing how the "deliberate ambiguity" policy that seems to surround most
border disputes breaks down when there are online maps that most people tend
to accept. Even saying areas are disputed tends to cause outrage.

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nitrogen
The true solution, which won't work until everyone thinks of the Internet or
Earth as their nationality, is to do away with borders altogether.

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pbiggar
I don't think this is a real solution. Borders occur at all levels, not just
at a national level. Your town boundaries determine how much tax you pay and
what school district your kids are in. Your county boundaries determine
whether you can open a bar on your land. And don't get me started on states'
rights.

The issue is largely that the law is different in the two countries which
dispute the region. In Northern Ireland for instance, the law was largely
biased against Catholics, which is the root cause for the violent independence
movement that followed.

While I agree with the notion that we are all one planet, I think that the
issue of borders is far more complex than nationality you want to be. Rather,
it's allowing people to decide under which rules they wish to be governed,
which is a far more important issue than simple tribalism.

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mootothemax
This reminds me of the changes Microsoft had to make to the timezone map in
Windows 95:

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/22/54679.aspx)

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ljegou
Google Maps must diffuse metadatas with their maps : date, origin/source,
level of quality, scale of usability, etc.

It's the least they can do to reduce the occurence of such problems. Any
honest and serious map data diffusion present metadatas. Cf. the EU "Inspire"
directive for public geographical data diffusion.

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sp4rki
Google should just draw a zigzagging line in the middle of the disputed
terrain and be done with it.

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chrisbroadfoot
Some areas have a dotted line for administrative borders.

For example, Kashmir: <http://goo.gl/maps/y58a>

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jijoy
In maps.google.co.in it's not marked with dotted line .

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mootothemax
You're right, very interesting!

.com: <http://goo.gl/maps/y58a> .co.in: <http://goo.gl/XP6a3>

And China has its own take on the border as well:

<http://goo.gl/9E4zb>

I couldn't find a Google Maps site for Pakistan, but am wondering if there are
any other countries that might take issue with the borders here?

