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Comment by alehul | Hacker News Reader

Crimea only appears as Russian if you're viewing it from within Russia, which recognizes Crimea as part of Russia, not Ukraine.

If you're viewing Crimea from Ukraine, it will appear as Ukrainian, because Ukraine recognizes Crimea to be part of Ukraine.

That seems fair, doesn't it?

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So, literally, everybody lives in their own bubble.

Except if the guy from Ukraine drives into Crimea there's a whole foreign army to arrest him.

I wish Apple could just show Russian politicians that Crimea was theirs, but also all of NATO was as well!

That means that American companies like Apple have admitted that Crimea is a part of Russia, not just an occupied territory of a foreign country? Despite the fact that there are no international treaties that would confirm transferring this territory to Russia?

Not really. It only shows that way in Russia. So they are admitting that Russia thinks that it’s a part of Russia.

If you look at Kashmir using Apple Maps, it will look different depending whether you are in India, Pakistan, or China. Is Apple recognizing one of those countries claims any more than the other?

There’s an interesting mix here though. As a nerd with a passing interest in politics, I don’t want to call Crimea lost. But at the same time, there needs to be a healthy dose of reality - if I’m on the ground, and crossing this imaginary line is going to mean russian soldiers with guns pointed at me - I think I’d prefer my map to render that line, imaginary or not.

Agreed, I'd definitely have to 1-star an app if it led me into a DMZ or military blockade.

As I understood, when viewed from Ukraine, Western maps show Crimea as a part of Ukraine.

Haha - this is exactly what happened to me when Maps.me app (formerly OpenStreetsMap) led me to UK military base in Cyprus (it made a route which skipped border checkpoints to occupied Turkish part of the island)

Do you know what it says if Im actually in Crimea?

That’s not true, if you’re in Ukraine it is not marked as Ukrainian territory, while in Russia it is now marked as Russian.

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