-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Online Maps: Everyman Offers New Directions
Date:   Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:33:07 -0800 (PST)
From:   A CARLUCCI <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]



Hello everyone

There's a lot more to this fascinating NY Times article on internet
mapping and "volunteer cartographers" than the issues Joel highlighted,
including reliability of online map data, public vs. corporate
information, and the future of cartography as a profession. The comments
are pretty interesting too. If you're reading this list, you'll probably
want to read this article.

Regards
April

April Carlucci
The Intinerant Map Catalog(u)er


--- On *Tue, 17/11/09, Maps-L Moderator /<[log in to unmask]>/* wrote:


    From: Maps-L Moderator <[log in to unmask]>
    Subject: Online Maps: Everyman Offers New Directions
    To: [log in to unmask]
    Date: Tuesday, 17 November, 2009, 14:01

    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject:        Online Maps: Everyman Offers New Directions
    Date:   Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:38:10 -0500
    From:   Joel Kovarsky <[log in to unmask]
    <[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>>
    To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum
    <[log in to unmask]
    <[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]>>



    This was in this morning's New York Times:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/technology/internet/17maps.html?_r=1&hp
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/technology/internet/17maps.html?_r=1&hp>.
    Towards the end of the article:

      Maps are political, of course, and community-edited maps can set off
      conflicts. When Mr. Ahmad tried to work on the part of Kashmir that
      is administered by Pakistan, he found that Map Maker wouldn’t allow
      it. He said his contributions were finally accepted by the Map Maker
      team, which is led by engineers based in India, but only after a
      long e-mail exchange.

      At his request, Google is now preventing further changes to the
      region, after people in India tried to make it part of their
      country, Mr. Ahmad said. “Whenever you have a Pakistani and an
      Indian doing something together, there is a political discussion or
      dispute.”

      A Google spokeswoman, Elaine Filadelfo, said Google sometimes
      blocked changes to contentious areas “with an eye to avoiding
      back-and-forth editing.”


    Joel Kovarsky