New map goof-up, Google shows PoK as part of Pak

Bangalore, Aug 18: Months after disparity in Google maps in India and China over the disputed region of Arunachal Pradesh sparked off a row, the internet giant is yet again in the news for a wrong depiction of the Indian map.

Google Insights for Search, a tool which shows search volume patterns across specific regions, shows India map without the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

A leading national daily that found this truncated map of India, contacted Google India on the matter.

In its response to Times of India, Google India said, “We are looking into the issue and will alert the relevant product group for further action."

This is not the first time the internet giant has hit the headlines for map goof-ups. It can be recalled that in 2005, Google Earth featured a similar map with political map of the sub-continent showing PoK on the Pakistani side of the map.

In Oct 2009, amid the conflict over the ownership of Arunachal Pradesh between India and its other neighbour China, Google had decided to show the countries a middle-path by showing two different maps in the two countries.

While the Indian users of the Google map site saw Arunachal as part of the country, in China the northeastern Indian state as well as parts of Kashmir was shown as part of the communist nation and the users in other parts of the world see Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir as a 'disputed regions'.

OneIndia News