LOOK: West Philippine Sea now on Google Maps
Google Maps has now officially labelled parts of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as the West Philippine Sea.
The recent update shows the Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal, a traditional fishing ground long claimed by the Philippines, as lying within the labelled area of the West Philippine Sea, a term officially used by the Philippine government for waters in the western part of the country’s EEZ.
In a statement obtained by PhilSTAR L!fe, a Google spokesperson clarified that the label "West Philippine Sea" has always been there, but it only used to show up when you zoomed in closely on the map.
Now, Google has updated it to make it "easier to see at additional zoom levels."
The shoal, located within the country's 200-nautical miles exclusive economic zone, has been the subject of long-standing territorial disputes between the Philippines and China.
In 2012, the Philippines asserted its claim on the waters as the late former president Noynoy Aquino issued Administrative Order No. 29 naming the western side of the country as the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines argued that it had sovereign rights and jurisdiction over all waters within the nine-dash line.
On July 12, 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea dispute (The Republic of the Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China) ruled in favor of the Philippines, saying that China's nine-dash line claim is invalid.
China has rejected the ruling to this day.
In February, Google also changed the name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America after US president Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14172.
In its blog post, the tech giant stated that people in Mexico will still see Gulf of Mexico.
"The names you see in the Maps app are based on your country location, which is determined by information from your phone's operating system, including your SIM, network, and locale. If you're using Google Maps on the web, the names are based on the region you select in your Search settings or your device's location, if you haven't selected one," it said.
When changing regions on a virtual private network, the map still names the waters west of the country as West Philippine Sea.
