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How does Google Maps handle disputed territories?
It's time that we explore further the real difference between dashed light-gray lines and solid red lines.
In 2016, Google Maps made headlines for removing the Palestine label from its service. While the tech giant disagreed that it was ever drawn in the first place, they admitted “West Bank” and “Gaza Strip” were removed due to a bug. It was corrected afterwards.
This wasn't an isolated case. Google Maps was caught on fire publicly at least ten times due to disputed borders. A high profile example is from Crimea:
- If it's viewed from Russia, it's marked within Russian territory.
- If it's viewed from Ukraine, it's Ukrainian.
- But if it's viewed from the US or another country, Crimea is covered with dashed light-gray border lines, highlighting disputed boundaries.
On the subject, Ethan Russell (director of product management for Google Maps) said the following in a public statement:
“We remain neutral on issues of disputed regions and borders, and make every effort to objectively display the dispute in our maps using a dashed gray border line. In countries where we have local versions of Google Maps, we follow local legislation when displaying names and borders.”
Dealing with disputed borders is a full-time job in a company that serves the most widely used map on the planet.
While Russell's statement indicates that the product team is intentional about the borders, the decisions they make still pose limitations, especially for the user experience. The following three are the first to come to mind.
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