You’d think that two legitimate countries, like Nicaragua and Costa Rica, would have some resource at their disposal other than Google Maps, but apparently even entire nations depend on Google for directions on how to get around, even if those directions aren’t always completely accurate.  Google is being blamed after last week’s accidental invasion of Costa Rica by Nicaraguan military forces.  It’s just the latest flare-up in a border issue that’s raged for 150 years between the two countries.

“This morning, after a discussion with the data supplier for this particular border [the US Department of State], we determined that there was indeed an error in the compilation of the source data, by up to 2.7 kilometres,” wrote Google geopolicy analyst Charlie Hale.  “Once our updates go live in Google Earth and Maps we will be depicting the border according to the most recent and definitive records available.  But as we know, cartography is a complex undertaking and borders are always changing.  We remain committed to updating our maps as needed.”

A treaty defining the border of the two countries was put into place in 1859; in 1897, US President Grover Cleveland was called in to mediate a dispute over the border between the two nations, and Cleveland had cartographers do a revised, more detailed and specific version of the border between the two nations.  Google will be using the 1897 border line.

It’s worth nothing that Microsoft’s Bing had the border drawn correctly.

Tags: Google, Google Maps, Google Maps error causes Nicaragua to invade Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, wars, border disputes, Charlie Hale, Google error causes international incidents, wars, unusual accidents, unusual technology glitches, bugs, international incidents, diplomacy, accidental invasion

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