Iran wants to sue Google Maps

[Duke87 1,070]

Because the Persian Gulf isn't labeled.

I've never heard it referred to by any other name, but apparently there is some controversy in that part of the world and some people think it should be called the "Arabian Gulf" (not to be confused with the Arabian Sea).

This is naturally silly, but of course we're talking about Iran here. Anything to stir the pot....

[Alejandro24 575]

Oh, a little detail in a map, I didn't notice it, and I never close the tab of Google Maps.

Well, is just a label, a label can't trigger a political crisis, unless the politicians were stupid...

Google must to put the label, is a map, and personally I don't tolerate a map with mistakes and errors. How many cost a label? Just write over that waterbody in the map Persian Gulf and end of the problem. Nothing hard, including a children can do it. What's the problem there? Nothing.

Now, depends of Google to do the correction, I've sended many mails showing mistakes in labels of the name of small towns of Jalisco. Untill now, they have not corrected them. Maybe I should to press more.

And, the official name of that waterbody is, in effect, Persian Gulf. UN decree the official name two times in 1994 and 1999, this because the geological and historical importance, also since the Arabian Gulf is the ancient name of the Red Sea.

  Edited May 19, 2012 by Alejandro24  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't the Iranians have enough distraction? You would think that everyone takes Google Maps with a grain of salt.

[Silur 3,304]

This is today's map from Google:

and original version:

Sorry my poor English, but I can't understand - what problems ?

We can see Persian and Arabian Gulfs on this map ...

  Edited May 19, 2012 by Silur  

[Duke87 1,070]

That's Google Earth, not Google Maps. If you look on Google Maps, it's unlabeled.

[Silur 3,304]

Yes, I saw it. But Google Maps is a simple and non official hamster ... May be Google don't know about Middle East maps, may be this map created by illiterate boy or girl ? And I think - all Iranians must look at Google Earth !!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Yes, I saw it. But Google Maps is a simple and non official hamster ... May be Google don't know about Middle East maps, may be this map created by illiterate boy or girl ? And I think - all Iranians must look at Google Earth !!!

No, only the Ayatollahs and their sycophants.

[Silur 3,304]

Well - but there are many problems with this .... Think about Israel and France, please ... One rocket for Your Hensall - no problem with GPS today ... We must stop any rockets !!!

Excuse me - I saw Your City with Google Earth - I like it real ...

  Edited May 19, 2012 by Silur  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Bah! If there was the faintest chance that Iran could become a "nuclear power" the first indication would be silence from all around. The next thing would be the black op that nobody would ever hear about and somehow there would be a revolution in Iran ...

The embedded powers will take care of all this, completely out of sight, as usual.

[Silur 3,304]

Don't worry - Iran has some uranium mines ( more than his Northern Brothers now ) and this is a real problem for Europe and for my friend, named Mr. Bolt in Israel Country !!!

  Edited May 19, 2012 by Silur  

[Alejandro24 575]

From a map label to the nuclear devices of Iran, that I'm not sure if it is a game of US-Israel or it is true, I have my doubts (*cof* *cof* Iraq *cof*). There's nothing more from Iran? I don't know, persian culture... where is the Shah, the King of Persia? The discussion around Iran needs more colors.

Persian Gulf exists in the search of Google Maps, but there's no label. I've sended a claim to Google about this, suggesting the addition of the name of this waterbody. Not because I'm on the side of Iran, its because I don't tolerate a map with mistakes. Hope so this time they will listen me.

Well - but there are many problems with this .... Think about Israel and France, please ... One rocket for Your Hensall - no problem with GPS today ... We must stop any rockets !!!

Excuse me - I saw Your City with Google Earth - I like it real ...

I did it too . Seems to be the result of the crossing of two roads.

  Edited May 20, 2012 by Alejandro24  

[Merlin of Flyote 8]

Sometimes places have different names according to which country you're in. In Britain we call it the Persian Gulf. Another example is the English Channel which the French call La Manche

[Silur 3,304]

Well ...

What do You think about these:

# 1 - from Google Earth - Russian version here ( I can see it on Deutsch version too) :

# 2 - from Google Earth too - UK and US version here:

And You can see FANTASTIC Kunashir (Russia vs Japan problems) map ...

I saw it in Russian and Japan variations - SUPER !!!

Hope You like it ...

Enjoy ...

  Edited May 20, 2012 by Silur  

[Duke87 1,070]

What this would seem to indicate is that Google doesn't worry so much about offending people with the non-English versions.

[Silur 3,304]

Sure - not only English and non-English version ...

There are many interesting things on our Globe with Google ...

  Edited May 20, 2012 by Silur  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

From a map label to the nuclear devices of Iran, that I'm not sure if it is a game of US-Israel or it is true, I have my doubts (*cof* *cof* Iraq *cof*). There's nothing more from Iran? I don't know, persian culture... where is the Shah, the King of Persia? The discussion around Iran needs more colors.

Persian Gulf exists in the search of Google Maps, but there's no label. I've sended a claim to Google about this, suggesting the addition of the name of this waterbody. Not because I'm on the side of Iran, its because I don't tolerate a map with mistakes. Hope so this time they will listen me.

Well - but there are many problems with this .... Think about Israel and France, please ... One rocket for Your Hensall - no problem with GPS today ... We must stop any rockets !!!

Excuse me - I saw Your City with Google Earth - I like it real ...

I did it too . Seems to be the result of the crossing of two roads.

The thing I find interesting in the Persian culture is that they don't have a unification movement. Iran+Iraq = Persia. One wonders if everyone would wind up speaking Farsi or Arabic? A chance for yet another bilingual country. There is a lot of culture there, and it would be a shame if it were destroyed in the squabbles.

Alejandro, the Shah died of cancer in New York. He was chased out of Iran by the Ayatollah Khomeini years ago. His family was placed on the throne by the Brits in the 1920s after WW I. Before that the Turks (Ottoman Empire) had control. Take a world history course sometime. There are lots of dirty tricks to learn about. History is much more interesting than physics, anyway. The Shan (crown prince) is alive and kicking somewhere, but I have forgotten where he is now.

You are both right. Hensall is a wide place in the road on provincial highway No. 4. I haven't always lived here, but it is a great place to retire after many, many years in the big cities. Our main drag is country road 83, and the town is mostly west of Highway 4. Actually, Hensall is a main shipping point for the agriculture around here. It calls itself "The white bean capital of Canada".

Actually, if you get an old enough map, you will find Canada labeled as France Nouvelle.

  Edited May 20, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Meg 368]

Actually, if you get an old enough map, you will find Canada labeled as France Nouvelle.

If you get an old enough map, you will find a chunk of southeast Asia labeled as French Indochina.

[Silur 3,304]

Well,

- and Alaska ( largest state in USA ) is a part of Russian Imperia,

- and Sakhalin ( South part ) is a part of Japan.

- Finland and all Baltic's Countries are part of Russia too ( and Poland too !!!) ...

You can see at AFRICA map 1950 = only France, Belgium and UK ...

We must live here and today - I can see at old maps sometimes some History - no more ...

  Edited May 20, 2012 by Silur  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The point is that updating doesn't take place all that often, and very few "official" maps are very current except in defense departments.

[Easy Bakes 253]

I'm with Iran on this

If Persia does not exist anymore why name the body of water after them?

  Edited May 20, 2012 by Easy Bakes  

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Japan and Korea similarly don't seem to agree on the "Sea of Japan," as both North and South Korea, in a rare moment of post-colonial unity, would rather call that body of water the "East Sea."

Of course, it really then hits the fan when North Korea insists the pan-Korean name be "Choson," while South Korea uses "Hankuk." Using one name or avoiding the other can show legitimacy bias to one side and offend the other, and Japan again ends up in a complicated position as their language has since ancient times used the similarly derived broad name of "Chosen." At least both North and South agree that Westerners can use the Westernized name of "Korea"...though we must be careful not to use the appellation "North" when dealing with North Korea, as that also offends them as they claim the entire peninsula and do not acknowledge the separate existence of the South.

I sometimes had to initially ask expat acquaintances hailing recently "from China" whether they were from "Mainland China or Taiwan." More often than not, they were specifically from the Republic of China, and not from the People's Republic of China, and all have sympathetically understood the acrobatics of the question. Perhaps they were just being tolerant because I didn't say "Formosa," "Nationalist China," or "Chinese Taipei."

Sometimes, I will admit to romanticized lapses in using "Victoria Terminus" in "Bombay" rather than "Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus" in "Mumbai," as I'm not much of a flag waver for Cultural Identity Scrubbing and Rescrubbing. Perhaps it is just generational enertia--I will always call that tall building in Chicago the "Sears Tower," no matter what the new owners officially rename it now. "Willis Tower?"..."What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

  Edited May 21, 2012 by Odainsaker  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What's in a name? The O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts has been renamed every time it changes the corporation that picks up its deficit, and the same with the Toronto Skydome, (now Air Canada Place). It is getting so that you can't tell where you are without your PDA.

[Meg 368]

Perhaps it is just generational enertia--I will always call that tall building in Chicago the "Sears Tower," no matter what the new owners officially rename it now. "Willis Tower?"..."What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

Perhaps it is generational inertia. It's the Sears Tower and having a new owner doesn't change that. (Speaking of generational things, I wonder how many people got your Willis reference. But reruns abound everywhere so maybe it was obvious.)

To me it will always be "Saigon". Too much happened there for me to think of it under it's new name. I get that it has one and people there can call the city whatever they like but "Saigon" is etched in my memory.

But the generational inertia is part of what people are objecting to. It's an issue of people's minds being stuck in the past and not accepting / relating to the current situation.

I'm trying to think of an example that I find personally objectionable. The 6 northeastern states are collectively called "New England" but, as far as I know, that doesn't bother anyone. I do object to the continued use of the confederate flag but that is a flag, not a name on a map, which is what we are talking about.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I call that big black building the Sears Tower as well and I call our big black building (in Seattle) the Columbia Tower, I used to call it the Columbia Seafirst Tower but Columbia Seafirst Bank of America is extremely annoying and Columbia is one of the names for Washington.

[Silur 3,304]

As Meg said Today:

"...

To me it will always be "Saigon". Too much happened there for me to think of it under it's new name. I get that it has one and people there can call the city whatever they like but "Saigon" is etched in my memory.

..."

To me "Saigon" is Saigon too ( not official "Ho Shi Minh City") ...

And You can see this ( my modern T-shirt from Vietnam-2011):

But a "new generation" in my airports can't understand me when I speak about Saigon

  Edited May 21, 2012 by Silur  

[Wiecher 192]

There have been similar problems. Google once misplaced a border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, making a Costa Rican river island Nicaraguan on the map, and Nicaragua saw that as justification for sending troops to the island.

Google Maps also managed to do this:

Germany didn't like it and Google removed the line indicating the border in the bay altogether.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I don't think Google has any more claim to fame and accuracy than any other reference work. There are lots of errors in Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, and even the OED. Everyone should take all this with a grain of salt not the oil of adoration.

[Easy Bakes 253]

So when did the maps change from Nippon to Japan?

[Duke87 1,070]

This sort of thing isn't just experienced with geographic entities, either. Here in the US, we are taught in school about something called the "French and Indian War", a war between the British on one side and the French and Native Americans on the other side which took place in the mid-18th century. In Canada and the UK, it is known as the "Seven Years War". Naturally, from a Canadian perspective, saying it was a war against the French is problematic, whereas from an American perspective it's generally accurate.

When it comes to places, though, I spent a lot of time staring at maps as a kid and the names that were on those maps are generally the ones I stick with.... though there are something interesting consequences of this. I was doing my map-reading in the very early 90s, right around and after the fall of the Soviet Union. Some of the newest maps I saw showed "Russia", but a lot of the maps I was looking at showed "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". I was of course unaware as a little kid of the massive political implication of this difference - I for years thought they were just two different names for the same country, like saying "America" versus "United States". And of course, I also thought "The United Kingdom" and "England" were the same thing. *ducks*

[Wiimeiser 444]

England is a UK state if I'm not mistaken? And I don't know much of the fall of the Soviet Union either.

Also, Abu Dhabi. Why did Garfield always try sending Nermal there, of all places?