Now You See It, Now You Don't
- From: "Too_Many_Tools" <too_many_tools@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Mar 2007 23:12:16 -0700
A lesson to learn from this...don't trust maps that you have not
personally verified.
Any guesses why the maps have been changed?
TMT
Google Maps has New Orleans pre-Katrina By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated
Press Writer Fri Mar 30
Google's popular map portal has replaced post-Hurricane Katrina
satellite imagery with pictures taken before the storm, leaving locals
feeling like they're in a time loop and even fueling suspicions of a
conspiracy.
Scroll across the city and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and everything
is back to normal: Marinas are filled with boats, bridges are intact
and parks are filled with healthy, full-bodied trees.
"Come on," said an incredulous Ruston Henry, president of the economic
development association in New Orleans' devastated Lower 9th Ward.
"Just put in big bold this: 'Google, don't pull the wool over the
world's eyes. Let the truth shine.'"
Chikai Ohazama, a product manager for satellite imagery at Mountain
View, Calif.-based Google Inc., said the maps now available are the
best the company can offer. Numerous factors decide what goes into the
databases, "everything from resolution, to quality, to when the actual
imagery was acquired."
He said he was not sure when the current images replaced views of the
city taken after Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, flooding an estimated
80 percent of New Orleans.
In the images available Thursday, the cranes working to fix the breach
of the 17th Street Canal are gone. Blue tarps that covered roofless
homes are replaced by shingles. Homes wiped off their foundations are
miraculously back in place in the Lower 9th. So, too, is the historic
lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain.
But in the Lower 9th Ward, the truth isn't as pretty, 19 months after
Katrina.
"Everything is missing. The people are missing. Nobody is there,"
Henry said.
After Katrina, Google's satellite images were in high demand among
exiles and hurricane victims anxious to see whether their homes were
damaged.
The new, virtual Potemkin village is fueling the imagination of locals
frustrated with the slow pace of recovery and what they see as
attempts by political leaders to paint a rosier picture.
Pete Gerica, a fisherman who lives in eastern New Orleans, said he
printed pictures of his waterside homestead from Google to use in his
arguments with insurance adjusters.
"I think a lot of stuff they're doing right now is smoke and mirrors
because tourism is so off," Gerica said. "It might be somebody's weird
spin on things looking better."
Henry also wondered whether Google's motives might be less than pure.
"Is Google part of the conspiracy?" he said. "Why these images of pre-
Katrina? Seems mighty curious."
Ceeon Quiett, spokeswoman for Mayor Ray Nagin, said that as far as she
knew, the city did not request the map change.
"My first reaction was, that's a bit problematic," she said.
Ohazama, the Google product manager, said he "personally" was not
asked by city or state officials to change the imagery, but he added
that Google gets many requests from users and governments to update
and change its imagery.
Google has become a go-to service for people looking for up-close
satellite imagery.
"I use it on a regular basis in my class," said Craig Colten, a
geographer at Louisiana State University who has written extensively
on New Orleans. He called Google's switch "unbelievable."
"I'm sure the mayor is thrilled," he quipped.
___
On the Net:
Google Maps: http://maps.google.com
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