Google Earth and New Orleans

Monday, April 02, 2007 by Dave Winer.

I recently started using Google Earth, and one of the first places I looked at was New Orleans, and I couldn't make sense out of what I was seeing -- it looked like the city had completely recovered from Katrina. I knew that it hadn't.  

Today I spotted a post on the Google weblog that explained they had replaced New Orleans imagery with pictures taken before Katrina, but I still can't figure out why they did this.  

Is it fair to assume that this is the only part of Google Earth that has been doctored? 

What about other parts of Google, and what is their disclaimer policy when the data they are presenting is not the accurate data?  

Seems like a basic integrity issue.  

"We recognize the increasingly important role that imagery is coming to play in the public discourse," is not enough of an explanation. 

PS: I've received emails from people who say they've fixed the database, but at 1:50PM Pacific, I just spent 20 minutes zooming around New Orleans in Google Earth, and it's definitely the pre-Katrina city.