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US Congress asks Google to explain Katrina cover-up
A Congressional subcommittee is calling upon Google Inc to explain why it was "airbrushing history" by replacing post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery on its popular map portal with images of the region as it existed before the storm destroyed neighbourhoods, uprooted trees and dashed bridges.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 April 1, 2007
New Orleans: A Congressional subcommittee is calling upon Google Inc to explain why it was "airbrushing history" by replacing post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery on its popular map portal with images of the region as it existed before the storm destroyed neighbourhoods, uprooted trees and dashed bridges.
Swapping the post-Katrina images, which showed the damage that remains more than a year after the storm, for others showing an idyllic city has fuelled suspicions among many local residents.
Citing an Associated Press report on Thursday, the US House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight asked Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to elucidate why his company is using the outdated imagery.
"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," wrote Democratic US Representative Brad Miller, the subcommittee chairman, in a letter to Schmidt on Friday.
Google had been providing imagery of how the region looked after Katrina, but replaced that with images before the storm. And a virtual trip through that old New Orleans is a surreal experience of scrolling across a landscape of packed parking lots and marinas full of boats.
The reality is very different: Entire neighbourhoods are now slab mosaics where houses once stood and shopping malls, churches and marinas are empty of life, and often gone entirely.
Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, confirmed receipt of Miller's letter and added that "we've reached out" to Schmidt. He declined to go into greater detail about Google's decision to switch the imagery. He said efforts are underway to use more current imagery.
John Hanke, Google's director for maps and satellite imagery, said "a combination of factors including imagery date, resolution, and clarity" go into deciding what imagery to provide.
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