As of Tuesday, you can now get Google driving directions from your home town to a gulag in North Korea. Well, in theory anyway. The idea has yet to be tested, and for some reason no one wants to volunteer …
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Flag of the DPRK © John Pavelka
Google’s release of the previously white-spaced area on the globe means that nearly every corner of the vast world has now been mapped by the internet giant. While Google wasn’t allowed, obviously, into North Korea to take street-view photos, the map has essentially been peer reviewed by what Google calls “citizen cartographers.” Volunteers submit data and information, such as subway stops and stadium locations, which are then reviewed and edited for accuracy. The same process was used for Burma, and other previously unmapped areas.
Check out some before-and-after map comparisons here, and read more here.