Miller Questions Google’s Change to Pre-Katrina Satellite Maps
(Washington, DC) – Rep. Brad Miller, Chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science & Technology Committee, today asked Google Chairman Eric Schmidt to explain why Google had changed its satellite maps of the New Orleans region to pre-Hurricane Katrina images.
“If current Google Maps satellite imagery is to be believed, Hurricane Katrina never struck New Orleans, there was never any flooding and thousands of people do not need to be living in trailers because their homes are still habitable,” Miller wrote.
According to news reports, Google Maps had been showing post-Katrina satellite imagery until recently, but suddenly it began to show images of an undamaged Gulf Coast. Chairman Miller questioned this “resurrection” of New Orleans, and Google’s inability to explain why these changes had been made.
“New Orleans is a great American city struggling to recover from an unprecedented disaster. Google’s use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history,” Miller wrote in his letter asking for a briefing next week to discuss the reasons for Google’s actions. In particular, he asked if anyone had asked Google to make the image changes.
Read the complete letter here.
###
110.052
Related Subcommittees
Next Article Previous Article