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AZERBAIJAN CONDEMNS DISTORTION OF TOPONYMS IN ITS OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 1 2013
1 October 2013, 13:11 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan has condemned the distortion of Azerbaijani toponyms in
the territories occupied by Armenia on Google Earth and Google Map.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told media on September
30 that Azerbaijan will urge the management of these websites to
correct the errors.
According to him, the Azerbaijani embassy in the U.S. was charged with
clarifying the issue and informing the management of these websites
about Baku's stance.
He added that Azerbaijani citizens should also oppose such distortions,
appeal to the management of these search sites and call on them to
rectify the mistakes.
Acting director of the Institute of Geography of Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Ramiz Mammadov told Trend news agency
that he has also come across such instances, but it is impossible to
completely prevent this. According to him, anyone can edit maps on
Google and Armenians use this to distort the map of Azerbaijan.
Mammadov said Google still uses maps left from the Soviet times.
The scholar noted that all maps that Azerbaijan inherited from the
Soviet period are wrong. If the coordinates of the maps are correct,
then they are placed on Google. But since the Soviet-era coordinates
on the maps are incorrect, none of them are loaded onto Google.
"None of the maps remaining from the Soviet era are correct. When
placing these maps on Google, Baku ends up in one place and Siazan
in another. But today, the geographic boundaries on the maps are
accurate to the millimeter. Now these maps are loaded onto maps of
the whole world," Mammadov said.
He said there are various reasons for incorrect coordinates on the
Soviet-era maps. The main reason is the fact that the maps were
compiled manually, but now they are complied with special electronic
applications. One of the benefits of these maps is their accuracy.
Mammadov considers that each map is a database and after placing the
cursor to any point on the map, data about the region appears.
"For example, it provides information on a plain. After a click with
the cursor, information on the area, fauna and flora of the territory
appears. When the cursor is on any settlement, figures showing the
population of the settlement, the number of men and women appear. It
means that the map currently is a large information base. If there
is not any information, then the map is simply mute," Mammadov said.
Most of toponyms in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia
is displayed in a distorted manner on Google Earth and Google Map. The
point is that while looking from the height to Nagorno-Karabakh
and the adjacent regions, one can't see the mistake in the names,
but when looking at these areas from the lower height the number of
the errors increases.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that sparked a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 1 2013
1 October 2013, 13:11 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan has condemned the distortion of Azerbaijani toponyms in
the territories occupied by Armenia on Google Earth and Google Map.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told media on September
30 that Azerbaijan will urge the management of these websites to
correct the errors.
According to him, the Azerbaijani embassy in the U.S. was charged with
clarifying the issue and informing the management of these websites
about Baku's stance.
He added that Azerbaijani citizens should also oppose such distortions,
appeal to the management of these search sites and call on them to
rectify the mistakes.
Acting director of the Institute of Geography of Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Ramiz Mammadov told Trend news agency
that he has also come across such instances, but it is impossible to
completely prevent this. According to him, anyone can edit maps on
Google and Armenians use this to distort the map of Azerbaijan.
Mammadov said Google still uses maps left from the Soviet times.
The scholar noted that all maps that Azerbaijan inherited from the
Soviet period are wrong. If the coordinates of the maps are correct,
then they are placed on Google. But since the Soviet-era coordinates
on the maps are incorrect, none of them are loaded onto Google.
"None of the maps remaining from the Soviet era are correct. When
placing these maps on Google, Baku ends up in one place and Siazan
in another. But today, the geographic boundaries on the maps are
accurate to the millimeter. Now these maps are loaded onto maps of
the whole world," Mammadov said.
He said there are various reasons for incorrect coordinates on the
Soviet-era maps. The main reason is the fact that the maps were
compiled manually, but now they are complied with special electronic
applications. One of the benefits of these maps is their accuracy.
Mammadov considers that each map is a database and after placing the
cursor to any point on the map, data about the region appears.
"For example, it provides information on a plain. After a click with
the cursor, information on the area, fauna and flora of the territory
appears. When the cursor is on any settlement, figures showing the
population of the settlement, the number of men and women appear. It
means that the map currently is a large information base. If there
is not any information, then the map is simply mute," Mammadov said.
Most of toponyms in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia
is displayed in a distorted manner on Google Earth and Google Map. The
point is that while looking from the height to Nagorno-Karabakh
and the adjacent regions, one can't see the mistake in the names,
but when looking at these areas from the lower height the number of
the errors increases.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that sparked a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.