The article is misquoting Google's 2008 blog post. If you actually read the whole thing:
> Under this policy, the English Google Earth client displays the primary, common, local name(s) given to a body of water by the sovereign nations that border it. If all bordering countries agree on the name, then the common single name is displayed (e.g. "Caribbean Sea" in English, "Mar Caribe" in Spanish, etc.). But if different countries dispute the proper name for a body of water, our policy is to display both names, with each label placed closer to the country or countries that use it.
> For language clients other than English, we display only the preferred name in the relevant language. For example, the Japanese client of Google Earth shows "Sea of Japan" in Japanese (日本海), while the Korean version shows "East Sea" in Korean (동해).
Given that this was written 14 years ago when the product was in its infancy, they are actually being pretty consistent.
> Google, on its Google Maps naming policy, back in 2008:
Listen, I think this is a silly capitulation but if we called every company a coward for reneging their 2008 promises then America would be renamed The United States of Cowardice.
The article is misquoting Google's 2008 blog post. If you actually read the whole thing:
> Under this policy, the English Google Earth client displays the primary, common, local name(s) given to a body of water by the sovereign nations that border it. If all bordering countries agree on the name, then the common single name is displayed (e.g. "Caribbean Sea" in English, "Mar Caribe" in Spanish, etc.). But if different countries dispute the proper name for a body of water, our policy is to display both names, with each label placed closer to the country or countries that use it.
> For language clients other than English, we display only the preferred name in the relevant language. For example, the Japanese client of Google Earth shows "Sea of Japan" in Japanese (日本海), while the Korean version shows "East Sea" in Korean (동해).
Given that this was written 14 years ago when the product was in its infancy, they are actually being pretty consistent.
> Google, on its Google Maps naming policy, back in 2008:
Listen, I think this is a silly capitulation but if we called every company a coward for reneging their 2008 promises then America would be renamed The United States of Cowardice.