Google Earth is getting some media attention here in Korea, after a netizen discovered that some S. Korean locations were marked as N. Korean. The locations cited are Ongjin, Baegryeong-do, Daecheong-do, and Socheong-do. Google Korea responded by stating that “it had not been able to update Google Earth, since it had not received map data from the Korean government, which it had requested in the second half of 2007.” On the other hand, an industry insider was quoted as saying “that the updates are simple, does not require map data and that Google’s reasoning is unconvincing.”
Also, it seems that this isn’t the first time the netizens took issue with Google regarding how Korean locations are marked. Last September, netizens protested when clicking on Seoul resulted in the words “Korea under Japanese rule”.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time to play everyone’s favorite show, “Who’s to Blame”!
Google Earth has been awful when showing many parts of Korea, heretofore. I complained about this to Google sometime ago as well.
does anyone know why google maps does not feature any map for korea ? who is supposedly in charge of implementing such feature ? is it something google “gets” from a country source, or they purchase, or they oversee ?
it’s interesting to see maps of thailand are in thai script, not romanized, as well as greece, and some other countries with non-roman scripts (a hint that it might be developped locally)
could it be that Korea prefers not to have such info on the net for “security” reasons ?
The satellite images of Seoul are several years out of date. It’s a joke.
Google stated “it had not been able to update Google Earth, since it had not received map data from the Korean government, which it had requested in the second half of 2007.”
And if Google does get a map from a Noh administration office, it may very well be one of those bogus ones that, by eliminating the border line, try to pretend there is no division between North Korea and South Korea. (It’s one country with peaceful, unspoiled villages, don’t you know?) So that won’t be of any help.
It’s hardly news. You just look at the DMZ and Panmunjoem on Google Earth and you notice that they haven’t been able to get clear data.
Well, I hate to break it to Yonhap, but Ongjin has not been a part of the Republic of Korea since the early hours of around June 27, 1950 when it was lost to the North Korean army. Not exactly a big error on Google’s part.
“it had not been able to update Google Earth, since it had not received map data from the Korean government, which it had requested in the second half of 2007.”
Somewhat missing the point, unless the borders moved what would the update show differently from the original source information used by Google. It’s being wrong has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of an update.
The satellite images of Seoul are several years out of date. It’s a joke.
Some have been updated in the last year for example Yeouido. Also, you can see this in other countries, where the Google satellite images, particularly rural areas are gradually replaced with more detailed and more recent images.
Why did Google use several-year old images in the first place?
Could this be a permissioning question explained by Google’s late start in Korea and the hostile reception it received?
Older images are generally cheaper than the more up-to-date ones, for obvious reasons. Google might also be somewhat sensitive to the security concerns expressed by the SK government over their software.
#12,
Bah, as if the North Korean embassies or members of Chongryon in Japan haven’t bought satellite pictures online and ‘donated’ to the North Korean government.
Well of course… But then again, that still won’t stop the govt. from making a stink over it.
The city of Ongjin became part of NK in the armistice, after being part of the ROK from 1948 to 50 (lies S of the 38th parallel), but the offshore islands (Baegryeong-do [Baengnyeong-do], etc.) are under the control of the ROK (although NK claims them), and are part of Ongjin-gun, in the Incheon Metropolitan City (confused yet?).
Regarding maps published in Korea that don’t show the border or DMZ, this goes back all the way probably to 1948—based on the premise that the North is officially part of the ROK (from the ROK’s point of view), just, er, temporarily not under Seoul’s control. It’s not leftist propaganda—it actually dates back to conservative nationalist governments.
All that said, how much do you want to bet that VANK will prefer to remain uncharacteristically silent on this one?