{"id":1444,"date":"2016-04-06T10:32:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T14:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2017-12-04T11:02:40","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T16:02:40","slug":"google-maps-as-non-state-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/google-maps-as-non-state-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps as Non-State Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

The problem with Google Maps becoming a\u00a0de facto\u00a0cartographic authority is that it isn’t a legal authority.\u00a0As we have seen over and over again, this has implications, both for Google, which must often walk a fine line between countries’ cartographic demands (for example, China\u00a0and India have laws mandating “correct” borders on maps that are mutually exclusive; the border Google shows you depends on where you are), and for Google’s users: a 2010 border skirmish between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was triggered by an error in Google Maps<\/a>. A discussion of that incident begins\u00a0Ethan R. Merel’s\u00a0note published in the\u00a0Columbia Journal of Transnational Law<\/em><\/a>, which explores the problem of Google being thrust into a role it may not have expected.<\/p>\n

Since Google is now producing the world\u2019s most important maps, a task previously done by nation-states, the company is \u201cgetting confused with a nation-state, and not just any one, a really important one\u2014a powerful one.\u201d92<\/sup> At first, Google reaped the benefits of waning state control over the practice of map making, but more recently, Google has started to face the criticism and responsibilities which accompany such possession of power.93<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[via<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The problem with Google Maps becoming a\u00a0de facto\u00a0cartographic authority is that it isn’t a legal authority.\u00a0As we have seen over and over again, this has implications, both for Google, which must often walk a fine… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[490],"tags":[406,82],"class_list":["post-1444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-censorship","tag-border-disputes","tag-google-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2160,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/comparing-google-and-apple-map-styles\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":0},"title":"Comparing Google and Apple Map Styles","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Justin O'Beirne, who has previously mused about the\u00a0possibility of a Universal Map and looked at\u00a0how Google Maps has changed over\u00a0the past few years,\u00a0has now embarked on a multi-part comparison of the cartographic designs of Google Maps and Apple Maps. \"We\u2019ll take a look at what\u2019s on each map and how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2682,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/08\/empty-maps-and-virgin-territory\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":1},"title":"Empty Maps and Virgin Territory","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 August 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The Guardian continues to track the issue of Palestine's absence from Google Maps. In a long essay that is definitely worth your time, Petter Hellstr\u00f6m links the issue with the long history of colonial maps that omitted the indigenous populations that settlers would soon displace. Because Palestine, after all, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herman Moll, New England, New York, New Jersey and Pensilvania, 1729. Wikimedia Commons.","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 1x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 1.5x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 2x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2543,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/08\/more-on-cartographic-grounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":2},"title":"More on Cartographic Grounds","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 August 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Two reviews this week of\u00a0Cartographic Grounds: Projecting the Landscape Imaginary\u00a0by Jill Desimini and Charles Waldheim (Princeton Architectural Press, June 2016). Writing for the\u00a0Huffington Post, Kate Abbey-Lambertz notes that the book follows up on a 2013 exhibition and features a number of its gorgeous maps. And\u00a0Curbed\u2019s Patrick Sisson points to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cartographic-grounds","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cartographic-grounds-244x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1836235,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/01\/google-maps-to-use-gulf-of-america-others-not-so-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":3},"title":"Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Lots of news coverage about Google\u2019s announcement that it will follow Trump\u2019s lead and change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America (and Denali to Mount McKinley) on Google Maps once the GNIS database has been updated\u2014at least when showing it to American users. Mexicans will still get Gulf of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1427,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/the-washington-post-on-google-maps-errors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":4},"title":"The Washington Post on Google Maps Errors","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 April 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"\"Although Google Maps is fast\u00a0becoming the ultimate authority on navigation,\" writes Karen Turner for the Washington Post,\u00a0\"the program is proving vulnerable to mistakes and hackers with results that at times\u00a0can be\u00a0catastrophic.\" Turner focuses on Google and problems with its error-correction and verification processes; it's worth remembering, though, that all online\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1807732,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/06\/online-map-roundup-apple-maps-in-ios-16-google-maps-displays-tolls-yandex-erases-borders\/","url_meta":{"origin":1444,"position":5},"title":"Online Map Roundup: Apple Maps in iOS 16, Google Maps Displays Tolls, Yandex Erases Borders","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 June 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps in iOS 16 will gain multi-stop routing, which I thought was a long-established feature on other platforms, as well as transit fare\/card\/pass integration. Apple\u2019s new maps will also expand to more countries, and its detailed city maps will expand to more cities in the U.S., Australia and Canada.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1446,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions\/1446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}