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Google Denies Removing Georgian Maps Data Following Ossetian War

News Type: Event — Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:31 AM EDT

Screenshot of Google's Map of Georgia and Surrounding Areas

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A Google Spokesperson has denied rampant internet claims that Google removed map data from Georgia following the outbreak of hostilities there.

Google has not made any recent change to Georgia, Amenia and Azerbaijan on its Google Maps product. We do not have local data for those countries and that is why local details such as landmarks, cities, etc. do not appear.

The comment comes following speculation on popular social news and bookmarking sites Digg and Reddit as well as on this column. The rumors were also echoed by APA, an Azerbaijani news organization.

While Google has honored requests to remove remove data from its maps and satellite images in the past, the company maintains that no road, landmark, or city data exists for the Caucasus region and that its maps product has not been altered as a result of the Russian/Georgian conflict.

On the web: http://maps.google.com

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{"commentId":2431960,"authorDomain":"killfile"}
Killfile

Never let it be said that I won't admit when I'm wrong. I seeded a story about Google removing their maps data from Georgia earlier this morning. After some discussion on the seed I finally received a comment from Google indicating that there had never been any data to remove.

Fair is fair; so, this is my retraction and a notice to everyone else who's speculating on the topic.

{"commentId":2431960,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"killfile"}
  • 4 votes
Reply#1 - Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:36 AM EDT
{"commentId":3032182,"authorDomain":"Extremist-Moderate"}
Extremist Moderate

That's an admirable stance, if my extrapolation of your views from this comment has any substance to it. Technically, it was the author of the seed article who was "wrong." Do you co-opt some of the responsibility for the errors of others when you seed their work?

{"commentId":3032182,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"Extremist-Moderate"}
  • 1 vote
#1.1 - Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:39 PM EDT
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{"commentId":2432274,"authorDomain":"GreatGreg"}
Great Greg

If it was in the interest of the U.S and Western Europe I would see nothing wrong with removing info that might help the enemy.

{"commentId":2432274,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"GreatGreg"}
    Reply#2 - Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:15 AM EDT
    {"commentId":2432728,"authorDomain":"killfile"}
    Killfile

    Certainly, and Google has been known to block images of things like military bases in the past. That said, present indication is that they've done no such thing: the rumors that they'd removed data from Georgia were false.

    {"commentId":2432728,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"killfile"}
    • 1 vote
    #2.1 - Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:05 PM EDT
    Reply
    {"commentId":2434528,"authorDomain":"alexwierbinski"}
    Alex WierbinskiDeleted
    {"commentId":2437906,"authorDomain":"alexwierbinski"}
    Alex WierbinskiDeleted
    {"commentId":2438100,"authorDomain":"bazards"}
    KRich

    Google made an official announcement on their blog about this.

    {"commentId":2438100,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"bazards"}
      Reply#5 - Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:19 PM EDT
      {"commentId":2442507,"authorDomain":"centinel"}
      Centinel II

      Has anyone tried verifying Google map data from before the war? Check for Google map data at the Internet Archive (WayBack Machine).

      www . archive . org

      {"commentId":2442507,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"centinel"}
        Reply#6 - Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:07 PM EDT
        {"commentId":2442744,"authorDomain":"killfile"}
        Killfile

        I don't think Google Maps is archived by WayBack. The full dataset is something like 17 Terabytes last time I bothered to look it up.

        {"commentId":2442744,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"killfile"}
          #6.1 - Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:32 PM EDT
          Reply
          {"commentId":2556801,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
          SthPacific

          Funny I sent you an email about this at the very start of the conflict, but I have since found out that certain words in that email were blocked by gmail and hotmail, so I kept getting an error message saying that this could not be sent. I presume you never got the mail.

          {"commentId":2556801,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
          • 1 vote
          Reply#7 - Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:06 AM EDT
          {"commentId":2557275,"authorDomain":"killfile"}
          Killfile

          Can't say I did. Gmail and hotmail are blocking words now? Pray tell which ones?

          {"commentId":2557275,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"killfile"}
            #7.1 - Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:35 AM EDT
            {"commentId":2557379,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
            SthPacific

            I could not figure out the exact ones, or rather the particular phrases that were blocked. but I guess it was :"codenamed Immediate Response 2008" Ill send you a PDF version if it will go, maybe you can figure out what was blocked. Could have been any number of things in it :rolls:

            {"commentId":2557379,"threadId":"330398","contentId":"1741995","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
            • 1 vote
            #7.2 - Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:41 AM EDT
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