VNExpress-July 18
The image of a Vietnamese flag on the rooftop of a building on Spratly Island is present again on Google Maps after it appeared whitened out in recent satellite images.
The satellite image change was noticed Tuesday morning on both Google Maps and Google Earth Pro. According to information displayed on the maps, the satellite image’s provider is now French national space agency the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) instead of Maxar Technologies Inc., a U.S.-based tech company.
Google has yet to make any announcement regarding the change. A week prior, several users of Google Maps and Google Earth Pro reported that an area on Spratly Island, part of Vietnam’s Spratly Archipelago, in which the image of a Vietnamese flag was supposed to be present, appeared white. Certain users accused Google of altering the image. Maxar, the provider of satellite images in the area at the time, said the difference in the image was caused by the way images are processed on Google, and that the image had too much light exposure due to the surrounding water surfaces and other objects. A Google representative said the satellite image was neither blurred nor altered, and that third parties had provided the image. The representative said the cause of the problem was due to “low image quality.”
Vietnam’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information had since asked Google to resolve the issue. The image of the flag was a ceramic artwork created in 2012 by artist Nguyen Thu Thuy. The idea was for people to observe the flag from above, whether on planes or satellite image services like Google Earth. The artwork spans 310 m2 and is made of 310,000 pieces of ceramics. Last year, Apple had to include Vietnam’s Spratly and Paracel islands on Apple Maps upon request by Vietnamese authorities. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnamese-flag-at-spratly-island-re-displayed-on-google-maps-4630885.html
