Scape-Google

In the world of Google, Hurricane Katrina never happened.\nGoogle Inc. came under fire last week when an Associated Press article reported that Google Maps was displaying pre-Katrina satellite images of New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast region. \nThe satellite images of New Orleans showed intact neighborhoods, parking lots full of cars, marinas full of boats – as if Katrina never hit. In reality, entire neighborhoods no longer exist, while others are in shambles. Ruston Henry, president of the Lower 9th Ward Economic Development Association, described the current state of New Orleans: “Everything is missing. The people are missing. Nobody is there. We still have no idea what’s happening.” None of the destruction showed up on Google maps, where accurate satellite pictures would show empty lots and blue tarps covering the rooftops of many damaged homes that haven’t been touched since the hurricane.\nCongress even stepped in to investigate the Google Maps mishap. The U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology asked Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company is using the outdated imagery, and Google is expected to brief the House Committee on the map discrepancies.\nU.S. representative and committee member Brad Miller wrote CEO Schmidt a letter claiming that “Google’s use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history.”\nPoor Google. It’s rough to be a scapegoat and take a hit for other people’s failures.\nThe last thing Congress needs is a day of “briefings” from Google on why some online images were outdated. (For the record, John Hanke, Google’s director for satellite imagery, said the pre-Katrina aerial photos were online because they were higher-resolution, higher-quality photographs.) Why not demand briefings from FEMA, or even President Bush, on why schools, churches and businesses have been untouched since the hurricane hit? Maybe Congress should brief the American public on why we value spending money on bombs for Iraq as some of our suffering brothers and sisters in the Gulf Region continue to live with nothing?\nGoogle hasn’t done anyone a “great injustice.” Shame on Brad Miller for pointing the finger. Outdated satellite images might be a foolish mistake, but not a “great injustice.”\nNational lawmakers and leaders are doing the greatest injustice to Katrina victims. The House committee seems more intent on getting accurate online pictures than on ensuring the conditions depicted in those pictures are fixed. There should no longer be so much widespread destruction to be “airbrushed.”\nAfter the report and the ensuing U.S. House committee interrogations, Google Maps once again shows New Orleans in ruins – the Lower 9th Ward is once again covered in debris, the protective tarps are in place, the lots are empty.\nI suppose the critics are happy again – the satellite evidence of destruction and suffering is back online and we’ve wagged our fingers at Google.\nNow we can all go back to ignoring the problem. What a relief!