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Google adds ‘West Philippine Sea’ into Maps outputs
MANILA, Philippines – Google recently implemented a change to its Google Maps information, adding the West Philippine Sea as a named location reference into its records, the application showed on Monday, April 14.
Without much fanfare or an announcement on its blog, Google added a note placing a “West Philippine Sea” naming in the waters directly west of the Philippines. You can find the South China Sea naming convention slightly further northwest of that.
The West Philippine Sea refers to the maritime areas along the western side of the Philippine archipelago which are within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. gave the area its formal naming in 2012 through Administrative Order 29.
It is unclear when the change as formally implemented into Google Maps, and also where the West Philippine Sea naming is applicable or shown. For the most part, those in the Philippines will be able to see this change, and it appears that using a virtual private network to change regions has Google retaining the West Philippine Sea naming convention in places like the United States and Taiwan.
In 2009, Google noted it localized user experiences for Google Maps to reference realities on the ground in places it serves. Google wrote that it worked “to provide tools that help our users explore and learn about their world, and to the extent allowed by local law, includes all points of view where there are conflicting claims.”
The most noteworthy shift in recent months has been the Gulf of Mexico/America controversy, in which Google Maps (and other map apps) changed a long-standing name — the Gulf of Mexico — to the Gulf of America in the United States.
Google Maps users who are neither in Mexico or the US will see both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of America naming attached to the location, with one name in parentheticals.
Rappler has reached out to Google for comment and will update this story should they release a statement. – Rappler.com