Nicaragua Raids Costa Rica, Blames Google Maps 285
Garabito writes "An error on Google Maps has caused an international conflict in Central America. A Nicaraguan military commander, relying on Google Maps, moved troops into an area near San Juan Lake along the border between his country and Costa Rica (Google translation of Spanish original). The troops are accused of setting up camp there, taking down a Costa Rican flag and raising the Nicaraguan flag, doing work to clean up a nearby river, and dumping the sediment in Costa Rican territory."
omgz it's started (Score:5, Funny)
This is how google takes over the world! Soon there will be a very small dot somewhere in google maps called "googleland", and then over time the borders will expand. But nobody will question it, because it must be right.
Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Funny)
Indeed. I almost rode my bike to a seemingly nearby park I had never explored. Then I double-checked it on the park authority's site and found it was over 100 miles away from where the Google map showed it.
So I 100% feel what this Nicaraguan commander felt. I mean; out situations were basically identical.
This is why.. (Score:5, Funny)
Flags (Score:5, Funny)
Irony... (Score:5, Funny)
"(Google translation of Spanish original)."
How can I trust it now?
Next up, from our digital overlords... (Score:2, Funny)
The white house reacted quickly to solve the problem and re-inaugured obama as the president of the pants of canada.
Re:omgz it's started (Score:5, Funny)
This is how google takes over the world! Soon there will be a very small dot somewhere in google maps called "googleland", and then over time the borders will expand. But nobody will question it, because it must be right.
translate.google.com says that German for "Googleland" is Liechtenstein. Start looking! If you find it, tell everyone you know!
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
Colonel Pastora, I'm very disappointed in you (Score:5, Funny)
See, it's stuff like this that's going to give South American military juntas a bad name.
Re:Yeah... (Score:3, Funny)
Imagine the resources of a nation like Nicaragua, then imagine the quality of their IT infrastructure... does it really surprise you that much that Google has a better and usually more accurate mapping service than they can get from their government?
Central American Conflict (Score:2, Funny)
There's a map for that.
Re:omgz it's started (Score:3, Funny)
Otis didn't have the nuts to say anything so bold.
Lex: Otisburg .. Otisburg?
Otis: Miss Tessmacher, she's got her own place.
Lex: Otisburg??
Otis: It's a little bitty place...
Lex: Otisburg?!?!?
Otis: Okay, I'll just wipe it off, that's all. It's just a little town.
Re:What's that on that flagpole? (Score:3, Funny)
How could they not know something was wrong when they find the wrong flag on the flagpole?
The original article says that they raised the Nicaraguan flag, but not that they took down a Costa Rican flag. I'm not sure where that "information" came from.
The commander's twitter update: (Score:3, Funny)
Today I used Google maps (instead of the official ones, with hopes no one would notice), to justify raiding neighboring land. If General finds out he's gonna be sooo pissed! FML.
- Nicaraguan commander, Eden Pastora
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
Since I found the "must not be used for running nuclear facillities" in the WinNT Eula, I'm definitly not sure if you're joking or not....
Re:The commander's twitter update: (Score:3, Funny)
Absolute beginners (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yeah... (Score:3, Funny)
“turn left”... off an overpass. (It’s fixed now.)
The map, or the side of the bridge?