North Korea Is No Longer A Big White Space On Google Maps
Until Tuesday the Google Maps of North Korea were mostly blank — only the capital of Pyongyang was labeled. But with the help of "citizen cartographers," Google has released a detailed map revealing roads, train lines, parks, hotels, hospitals, restaurants and even several city-sized labor camps.
Beginning in 2009 the volunteers — collaborating on Google Map Maker from outside of the Internet-starved country — compiled points of interest that were already public on existing analog maps or on the Web.
Al Jazeera has a good rundown of why this is a big deal in regards to the Hermit Kingdom, and The Washington Post's interactive before/after provides an idea of how big of a difference the new maps make.
Here's the entire country:
Pyongyang:
The Korean Demilitarized Zone:
The China/North Korea border:
Check out some of the other places maps like these have uncovered:
Satellite Images Show Gulags Are Still Operational In North Korea
Bing Maps Show The CIA's Secret Bin Laden Training Facility In North Carolina