How Google Maps Makes It Harder for Palestinians to Navigate the West Bank

Butu, who often travels from her home in Haifa, Israel, to the West Bank city of Ramallah for work and to visit friends, said Google Maps has led her astray several times in recent years. “I was told to drive right into the wall that has been in place since 2003,” she said.

Others have encountered the same wall near the Qalandiya checkpoint that separates Jerusalem from the West Bank, and almost driving into it has become a ritual. “I tried to get to my office near East Jerusalem, but Google Maps completely failed me,” Leila said. . “It wanted me to take a path that was completely walled off.”

Google’s Bourdeau told Wired that the company is investigating the route and will update if it can verify the situation based on reliable data.

Even before the war, Google Maps users in the West Bank said they were accustomed to receiving instructions that might be unsafe. One long-standing problem they point to is that Google does not distinguish between unrestricted roads and roads that are only allowed to Israelis, such as those leading to and from Israeli settlements, where Palestinians are not supposed to go. On the route from Haifa to Ramallah, where Google Maps once directed Boutu to a closed gate, she said Israeli soldiers approached her car and pointed their guns at her. “I have to explain that I made a mistake,” she said. Google “is optimized for settler paths, which can be very dangerous for me as a Palestinian.”

Burdo said Google doesn’t differentiate between Palestinian and Israeli routes because that requires knowing personal information about users, such as their citizenship status.

When Google Maps guided her into the settlement, Butu said she spoke English and hoped to pass herself off as a lost foreigner. Other Palestinian users told Wired that when they unexpectedly enter dangerous areas, they try to turn around or retrace their steps as quickly as possible.

In other cases, Google Maps refuses to fully provide directions, such as when navigating between West Bank cities, including Hebron and Ramallah. Instead, the app told them “Unable to calculate driving directions” (Wired was able to replicate the same result). One current Google employee said this is because Google has not yet invested in the direction of support between the three administrative regions of the West Bank, two of which are officially more controlled by Israeli authorities. Google spokesman Burdo said the company was working to resolve the issue.

new challenges

Despite its shortcomings, users told Wired that they’ve found Google Maps helpful in the area before, especially when they’re traveling to unfamiliar places. However, since the war began, they have found the app intolerable. Shortly after the battle began, Google shut down the ability to see a live traffic overview of the area Protect “Safety for local communities.” Users now have to enter a specific location to see traffic conditions along their route, adding an extra step to some of these possibilities.

Two current Google employees also said it was alarming that Google had yet to act on many suggested edits submitted by employees and West Bank drivers because of changes in local conditions during the war and an increase in spam after the conflict. Issues such as missing streets or locations. This resulted in the road data on the app becoming outdated over the past year. Burdo said Google will update the recommendations when they can be verified through reliable sources.