Re: Google criticized for using pre-Katrina maps on Google Earth

On Mar 31, 2:22 pm, lyon_wonder <lyon_won...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Congressional subcommittee criticizes Google pre-Katrina images

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, March 31, 2007

(03-31) 08:30 PDT New Orleans (AP) --

Google's replacement of post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery on
its map portal with images of the region before the storm does a
"great injustice" to the storm's victims, a congressional subcommittee
said.

The House Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on
investigations and oversight on Friday asked Google Inc. Chairman and
CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company is using the outdated
imagery.

The subcommittee cited an Associated Press report on the images.

"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of
Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history,"
subcommittee chairman Brad Miller, D-N.C., wrote in a letter to
Schmidt.

Swapping the post-Katrina images and the ruin they revealed for others
showing an idyllic city dumbfounded many locals and even sparked
suspicions that the company and civic leaders were conspiring to
portray the area's recovery progressing better than it is.

Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, said the company had received the
letter but Schmidt had no immediate response.

After Katrina, Google's satellite images were in high demand among
exiles and hurricane victims anxious to see whether their homes were
damaged.

Now, though, a virtual trip through New Orleans is a surreal
experience of scrolling across a landscape of packed parking lots and
marinas full of boats.

Reality, of course, is very different: Entire neighborhoods are now
slab mosaics where houses once stood and shopping malls, churches and
marinas are empty of life, many gone altogether.

John Hanke, Google's director for maps and satellite imagery, said "a
combination of factors including imagery date, resolution, and
clarity" go into deciding what imagery to provide.

"The latest update from one of our information providers substantially
improved the imagery detail of the New Orleans area," Hanke said in a
news release about the switch.

Kovacs said efforts are under way to use more current imagery.

It was not clear when the current images replaced views of the city
taken after Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, flooding an estimated 80
percent of New Orleans.

Miller asked Google to brief his staff by April 6 on who made the
decision to replace the imagery with pre-Katrina images, and to
disclose if Google was contacted by the city, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey or any other government
entity about changing the imagery.

"To use older, pre-Katrina imagery when more recent images are
available without some explanation as to why appears to be
fundamentally dishonest," Miller said.

Edith Holleman, staff counsel for the House subcommittee, said it
would be useful to understand how Google acquires and manages its
imagery because "people see Google and other Internet engines and it's
almost like the official word."

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google does provide imagery of New Orleans
and the region following Katrina through its more specialized service
called Google Earth.

Not really surprising, the imagery as a general rule is roughly 2
years old. That's based on the imagery I viewed for Missouri.

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