Google recently announced to redraw the maps according to the users’ location. The disputed territories across the world will now change according to the people who are searching.
Google Maps has always tried its best to chart out the globe for millions of users across the world. But it becomes troublesome for the world’s most used search giant when people disagree on the territory.
There are several disputed places and borders around the globe on which two or more countries are claiming as the part of their edge, and so it often becomes tough for the search giant to deal the issues. According to a report of the Washington Post, Google has decided to bring some changes in its policy. So further, the search giant will display the political borders with some different approach. The display of political maps will depend on the location of the viewers from where they are viewing.
Google Maps has turned 15 years old now, and the decision taken by the search giant is significant. The issue of political borders is a sensitive matter for the people and countries all across the world. Seeing the sensitivity of the case, Google has taken an entirely different approach to remain safe from any confrontation with the political arena. The encounters arising out of disputed regions is not new, and even the printed mapmakers have been facing it all around the world. But, the sensitivity of the issue increased when it comes to digital technology and it all just because of the speed and connectedness.
Whenever the people search for any particular place, it appears to them on Google Maps with no time, and this fast speed becomes jarring if the region displayed is disputed allowing the people and countries to raise their objections. There are several disputed borders all across the world caused due to the rivalries between the people and nations.
The situation turned worst due to continuous conflicts over the exploitation of natural resources. For Example, Sea of Japan is widely displayed as the body of water separating South Korea from Japan but it is considered as East Sea on South Korea leading to a situation of political conflict.
Google has said that it works with the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names and also take a look into the armistices and treaties signed between the countries. Further, the search giant has announced that it will remain neutral on the issues of disputed borders and territories. The Director of Product Management for Google Maps, Ethan Russell, has said the search giant is abiding with the local legislation when it comes to displaying borders and names in case the local versions of Google maps is available to the company.
The search giant has also announced that it has an exceptional team of employees regarding the display of disputed regions on which the company rely and the name of the group is “disputed regions team. It will be interesting to see how the decision taken by the company is going to affect it in the next time. Looking at the extent of Google maps capturing more than the lives of 98% all across the world based on the satellites imagery of the total of 36 million square miles available for the people to browse, the decision may have some term effects.
The search giant has already faced a lot of criticism on various and faced the allegations of handing over the locations of users to the law enforcement agents and governments, and so the company announced the photos had been collected from the third party. The continuous decisions and modifications introduced by the company will undoubtedly impact it positively in the coming time.
Source :- http://norton-us.com/google-maps-will-now-display-disputed-borders-based-on-your-location/
Davis Johnson is a self-professed security expert; she has been making the people aware of the security threats. Her passion is to write about Cybersecurity, cryptography, malware, social engineering, internet and new media. She writes for Norton security products at norton.com/setup.
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