Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)

It's clear that indirectly you're pointing to the persian Gulf naming dispute and your apparant predilection of rich Arabian countries bordering this body of water in google earth recent maps. Yes google; you are right. Currently We Iranian people are weak and isolated and have little role in world policy and the US has banned financial exchange with Iranians, So why to support them when there is such a lot of money on the opposite side of the Persian Gulf? The name Arabian Gulf that you've recently added to your maps is a conspiracy used by Pan-Arab racist leader Jamal Abdol Nasser in 1960s who was jealous of Iran's promotion and superlative power in the region those days. Now their oil wells are full and they're making a lot of money so they can so satisfy you that you completely forget about the facts and your creditability. But what about 40 years later that all those wells are emptied? May be you think that those days there will be pretty enough time for thinking about less important issues like humanity and honesty!

You've broke many Iranian hearts Google Earth!

I abhor the policies and politics of the current Iranian regime. That being said, as a long-time teacher/professor, I have taught both geography and world history for a half century and consider 'Persian Gulf' to be the historical and, therefore, the sole authentic title until such time as all bordering countries agree to a name change.

half a million signatures against the wrongdoing of google earth: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?sos02082

How much did yo uget paid for adding false inforamtion. There is only one gulf in southern Iran and that is called the PERSIAN GULF

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Google Earth,

A few points for your consideration:

1. Iranians around the world have sent you petitions, letters, direct requests including an official request for a clarification of the decision from the National Iranian American Council.

Your decision to post an indirect response on this obscure blog instead of directly engaging and explaining your decision in a professional and public manner does a disservice to your well-earned positive reputation.

2. Your utilization of a "local use" rule, even if legitimate would require some form of data backing it up. Is the measurement related to population? what "local use" threshold are you holding yourself to? (33%? 5%? or is a handful of 'locals' enough?)

Are you considering bordering shoreline? Is the GDP of the populated countries part of the measurement? Are you conducting polls? How often do you update your "local use" standard - or once decided, is the usage then fixed for eternity?

What is your metric? and where is the evidence to back it up? In the case of the Persian Gulf which is the biggest issue currently being discussed regarding Google Earth (Aside from the Israeli/Palestinian town name - not a body of water, but also goes unaddressed in this blog post) - you fail to recognize that the name Persian Gulf was first coined (local use) by the Arabic tribes to describe the gulf they would have to cross to get to the "Persians".

3. This decision also strikes me as rather weak and somewhat cowardly as it indicates a willingness by Google to accede to artificial political pressure rather then to achieve Google's mission of providing accurate information for it's consumers.

Your flippant use of the hypothetical renaming of the Pacific Ocean by a random monarch strikes me as a perfect example of this weak argument. It is a badly disguised analogy to Gamal-Abdul Nasser's pan-Arabist political ideology that lead to the invention of the term "Arabian Gulf".

Which brings up another question - if a tyrant forces the use of a particular term by his people (lets say under penalty of death) - would that population's usage then qualify under your 'local use' standard? Is this not then an encouragement for Tyrants to leave a lasting legacy by manipulating Google Earth's arbitrary policy?

If Google Earth had existed just 40 years ago, maybe we would have had such lofty bodies of water as the Pol Pot River, Idi Amin Lake, and the Northern Stalin Sea. Maybe even the Red Mao Ocean (1.3 billion Chinese after all).

In my personal estimation, based on the April 8th date of this post (months after official requests for an explanation), this explanation reflects a poorly thought-out and ill-conceived excuse after-the-fact to sweep the issue under the (Persian) rug and to provide Google executives with a face-saving PR talking-point.

I suspect this effort will be a far-cry short of what is needed to silence your critics.

I should also add - in addition to the above points - that instead of disengaging from potential conflicts, in this particular case, Google is directly inserting itself into a conflict-ridden part of the world as an entity taking sides.

I would recommend one of your people visit with the National Geographic, who faced with the exact same dilemma, chose to exclude the use of "Arabian Gulf" for this exact reason.

Babak, can you believe we're still having this problem with people? I mean the most recent wars that THIS country has had were called the "Persian" Gulf Wars. Furthermore, I have never known any Arabs to call the Gulf anything other than Khaleej-e Fars. Who is pushing for the name Arabian Gulf? This is so odd to me! Who are the pressure groups on the OTHER side? I can't even believe we're still fighting this. It's like having to convince people to call "Persia" "Iran." This all seems very odd to me.

And this from a UN communiqué:

United Nations Secretariat ST/CS/SER.A/29/Add.2 94-33224 (E) 180894

Prepared by Editorial Control To: Members of the staff

Subject: Use of the term "Persian Gulf" Addendum

Attention is once again drawn to editorial directive ST/CS/SER.A/29 and Corr.1 and Add.1 on the use of the term "Persian Gulf". The purpose of the present addendum is to urge that care be taken to ensure the appropriate use of this term in documents, publications and statements prepared by the Secretariat.

The full term "Persian Gulf" should be used in every case instead of the shorter term "Gulf", including in repetitions of the term after its initial use in a text.

Seriously inamorato, why are we still having this discussion? National Geographic was good enough to realize their mistake and after doing their research they made their correction.

Google shouldn't just agree to give any local name to any body of water with an international boundary. Should Google also allow "Arvand Rood" to be an alternate name to the Shatt al-Arab waterway? No, because it is not internationally recognized and nobody outside of Iran calls it Arvand.

People can't just decide to create an alternate name for a prominent body of water. What if Canadians decided to rename Gulf of Alaska to "Gulf of British Columbia" or something stupid like that, should everyone else be OK with the new alternate name?

"The map is not the territory" or is it? Fascinating debate--thank you Google. If only Korzybski, Sapir, and Whorf were around for this. Jonathan Kroner

To all my compatriots above, This is how it’s done first they deny our history Then they change facts After they redraw maps And you could imagine what comes next Don’t you all out there give up on Iran for a second

Love you all and anything and everything Persian

Long live the sons of Cyrus

You have written a multi-page policy blog to justify your ignorance and overt acquiesce to forces trying to marginalize the maps in existence for over a thousand years. All you have done is the exact opposite of what your stated objective is which is not entering political debate. Google's overall policy was supposed to be "Don't be Evil" which seems like you have lost. Go ask your founders what they meant when they were trying not be evil.

It's pretty obvious that the Arabic Gulf needs to be changed to Persian Gulf. It's unbelievable that a group of smart people like those at Google don't understand historical fact. The United Nations recognizes this body of water as Persian Gulf; no one except a few politically motivated group of people want to call it Arabic Gulf.

Google, you're really starting to piss people off now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Gulf

Okay, what can I say? This is uneducated. The explanation is not satisfactory. Surely, Google has enough resources to draw from to be able to consult subject matter experts on this. How does Google justify its disregard for various reputable publications (e.g. National Geographic, Encarta, etc) that use the name “PERSIAN GULF”?

Surely, this is reflected badly on the Google brand and company. At the end of the day however, it is not the doing of the entire organization but a handful of people who failing to do their job properly and address this matter. I encourage the author of this blog to reconsider his reasoning here and do the right thing.

The most unbelievable thing is that Google has not even deigned to respond to NIAC's request for a sit-down. not once, not twice, but THREE times we have asked for a meeting.

When the National Geographic was convinced - it took us and our allies 8 weeks. But at least they sat down and listened to the other side.

Maybe Google likes to be associated with the likes of Saddam

Dear Andrew McLaughlin, Accrding to your comment "If all bordering countries agree on the name, then the common single name is displayed (e.g. "Caribbean Sea" in English, "Mar Caribe" in Spanish, etc.).", then I think all bordering countries agree on the name of Palestine instead of Israel to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. As a researcher and scientist I had special interest and dedication to use google and google scholar, but I now I would gladly switch to any other searchable archive who stands on its standarsds

would you please show the world documents from U.N. or other world authorities that allows you to change the name of the persian gulf to arabian. you are playing with history and it is not funny.

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hey who says we have ARABIAN GULF in world ?!! from thousands years it is PERSIAN GULF ! you use fictitious name in ur google products ! its very very wrong! ITS PERSIAN GULF FOR EVER! u cant change this name! google is falling between Iranian for these BIG LIE!!! im sorry for google and everyone says ARABIAN GULF!

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google has lost it's confidence in truth with the world by calling persian gulf which has been known to everyone since 500 B.C. by calling it arabian gulf. the world knows better to believe this foolish and absurd dsplay by google. why don't google show the world when this decision was made? as the source of money for google runs out (look what is going on in dubai now, the joke is over and people are fleeing there by thousands) maybe google will come to their senses and correct the mistake.

Google is a racist company! It does not care about the Iranian people and international laws. Google has made it a policy to insult a whole nation by taking bribes. Everybody knows that this policy is politically-motivated and constitutes identity theft.

As long as Google keeps abusing the name Persian Gulf, there is no reason to not boycott Google Earth. Even if someone gives me a copy of the latest enterprise version of Google Earth for free, I will not accept it! I have already advised many of my relatives and friends to not use Google Earth and encourage everyone out there to never download or buy Google Earth.

As an Iranian, it hurts my heart that Google Earth is fabricating the history behind a name that is attached to the Persian heritage. Despite all the legal and historical documents about this waterway, you have deliberately chosen to ignore such realities and attack our history in the harshest way.

You are only dama