Google puts Yamu in Assam!

Google Maps-Google Earth howler leaves Netizens bewildered

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 17: Google has done it again. In its latest blooper, the river Yamu flows through Assam. And Guwahati is located on the banks of the Yamu, not the mighty Brahmaputra. A click or touch on the latest version of  Google Maps and Google Earth will show this major geographical error.

However, this is not the first time Google, the world’s most powerful Internet search engine, has slipped up badly. With faulty geopolitical delineations and labels, it has courted controversies in many a country.

On earlier occasions, Google Maps showed some of India’s strategically important locations, including the State of Aruchal Pradesh, in Chi, triggering a huge outcry all over the country. This time Google Maps are showing ‘Jamu River’ in Assam. Areas like Bhutth, Bharalumukh, MG Road, Uzan Bazar and other places in both Guwahati and North Guwahati are shown located along the Jamu River.

Some years back, Google’s satellite map of the border area between India and Chi showed several Indian towns in Aruchal Pradesh listed under their Chinese mes as part of the People’s Republic of Chi.

The maps also showed the Aruchal’s southern border with Assam and its northern boundary with Chi in broken lines, indicating disputed territory. It also appeared to question India’s borders with Myanmar and Bhutan. The publication of the map provoked an angry response throughout the country, including the Northeast.

Last year, the Survey of India received several complaints that Google was displaying incorrect map of the country on its different websites. The websites were found to be www.google.co.in (India), www.ditu.google.co.ch (Chi), www.google.pk (Pakistan) and www.google.org (General).

For long Chi has been claiming vast swathes of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Aruchal Pradesh, which it says were illegally ceded to India during the British Raj. Beijing also rejects the “MacMahon Line” border. But the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam being shown as the Jamu is not expected from a global Internet search engine like Google.

However, Google in its website states that one can report any mistakes found in its map, and on the basis of the complaint received, corrective measures will be taken.