Nicaragua invades Costa Rica due to Google Maps error

This is the reason Google maps is still in its "beta" testing phase and should not be trusted to give accurate directions. This reminds of the time that woman walked into highway traffic after getting bad directions from Google Maps, then decided to sue them to mask her own idiocy. I wonder if this Nicaraguan Army Commander will sue Google now too? I guess this proves that you can't "Google" everything. This is just too rich.

Former Nicaraguan military commander Eden Pastora is blaming Google Maps for ordering his army to invade a portion of Costa Rica, according to Search Engine Land. The troops set up camp, took down a Costa Rican flag, raised the Nicaraguan flag, destroyed a protected forest, cleaned up a nearby river, and dumped the sediment in Costa Rican territory.

"Look at Google's satellite photo and there you can see the border," Pastora told La Nacion (Spanish translation), the largest newspaper in Costa Rica. "In the last 3,000 meters, the two sides (of the river) are Nicaraguan. Then from there to El Castillo, the border is the right riverbank, it's clear."

Apparently Google Maps isn't always right. The official maps used by both the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican governments show the border continuing on the right bank of the San Juan River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. As you can see in the image above, Bing Maps shows the border more accurately. If Pastora is going to ignore the official maps and insists on using an online mapping service, maybe Costa Rica should tell him to just Bing it next time.

I remember reading an article arguing that Google is wrecking people's brains. By providing people with instantaneous answers and information, we are losing out capacity to think for ourselves, do proper research and store that information. At the time I didn't agree with the conclusions the author presented. Now I am starting to think the author is correct.

Google is making us stupid!

Techspot

reply to post by kommunist


Who uses "Google Maps" to take over enemy territory?! That's pretty pathetic, if you ask me. Though, it does make me wonder. Maybe that's how America ended up invading Iraq with no preemptive cause, whatsoever! I can most definitely see GWB being a "Google-head."


Cheers,
Strype

reply to post by Strype


This is obviously a joke, I mean.. This sounds like a joke I would hear at a pub one night after the first two rounds of beer. Hilarious though

Originally posted by Strype
reply to post by kommunist

 

Who uses "Google Maps" to take over enemy territory?! That's pretty pathetic, if you ask me. Though, it does make me wonder. Maybe that's how America ended up invading Iraq with no preemptive cause, whatsoever! I can most definitely see GWB being a "Google-head."


Cheers,
Strype

I can see the thread title now:

"Damn Right" Bush reveals Google as source for WMD images in Iraq.

Originally posted by Strype
reply to post by kommunist

 

Who uses "Google Maps" to take over enemy territory?! That's pretty pathetic, if you ask me. Though, it does make me wonder. Maybe that's how America ended up invading Iraq with no preemptive cause, whatsoever! I can most definitely see GWB being a "Google-head."


Cheers,
Strype

A google-head as well as being many other "**-head" descriptions eh? ;p

I'm guilty of settling the occasional bet with google, or trying to beat 'who wants to be a millionaire' to find the answer first if i don't know it for funsies, but to invade a country, hmmmm, maybe not!

Some people seriously use google for EVERYTHING though. Sometimes I like to play with it, and type questions in and see what comes up for example, I type in 'can my baby get...' and the first one is Pregnant - REALLY? who is stupid enough to ask that?! Good lord.