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Google Maps’ Mapathon 2013 In Trouble For Allegedly Violating India’s Mapping Laws
The Indian government is strictly against the Google Maps Mapathon 2013 for a variety of defense related issues and violation of India’s Mapping laws. The government has stated that the unauthorized initiative by the California search engine giant was a threat to the country’s defense mechanisms and national security. According to the Survey of India, which is the official government department for handling mapping tasks, has asked the Defense Ministry, Home Affairs and Science & Technology to take “suitable action” to prevent illegal mapping activities like Mapathon 2013 because they are “likely to compromise national security interests“.
Google’s services such as Google Maps and Google Earth provide users with pin-pointed satellite images of locations at specific site, and have often faced flak from governments all over the world. The war gets heated to such an extent that some governments have even considered blanking out sensitive information and defense establishments which could give away potential info to ‘unauthorized‘ persons from the respective web apps.
Even India has blocked Google Maps pages showing satellite images of the Parliament of India, including the North Block and South Block, in a bid to protect national interests.
On behalf of the Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao, his deputy major general R C Padhi told the three ministries that Mapathon was “not in accordance with the national Mapping Policy 2005 and map restriction policies issued by the defence ministry from time to time“, he said. But Google was quite against the government’s claims. “Mapathon is a user-initiative to map new destinations and areas of public interest. It generated a huge response. We mapped 82,000 restaurants, 42,000 places of worship and 32,000 health centres and hospitals,” an executive at the company said. “We have no intent or desire to compromise national security. We steer clear of all sensitive installations. All our mapping activities follow guidelines and applicable laws,” she added.
Oppostion party BJP’s MP Tarun Vijay, however, differs in his opinion. He has asked the government to book Google for violating India’s defense regulations on maps by “illegally” inviting people to map the country and send data to its US-based servers. Countries such as USA have not permitted Google to take pictures and make detailed “street-view” maps of its military and other important sites.
Google India had recently launched the Google Maps Mapathon 2013 in the form of a crowd-sourcing and a contest for its users. It was primarily launched in order to improve and update the Internet maps for India. In Mapathon 2013, users share information with Google and Google will include them in Google Maps. Participants could also get various prizes such as smartphones and tablets announced by Google. It was held from February 12 to March 25 and is the first such mapping competition in the country. Google Maps also launched Google Business Photos in March this year, which allows interactive 360 degree views of a particular place.
I feel the government shouldn’t take any extreme step in haste and should instead openly consider all possible alternatives that do not challenge citizen’s freedom and Google’s own policies. After all many other countries have also openly welcomed such initiatives and objectives of Google Maps. Further, Google Maps has pioneered the Geospatial industry in India and the industry contributes well to the country’s overall economic growth.
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2013-03-28 05:02:46
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