![Israel No Longer Appears On Flickr Maps [UPDATE: Been Re-Added!]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/large-16-9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fs-flickr-maps-israel21_jpg.webp)
With a new CEO, Yahoo! hopes to bring Flickr back to life and make it the number one destination for photographers. With the renewed efforts, as MegaPixel revealed today, Flickr may have made one bad move, as they have erased Israel from their maps. The name of the country is still there, and also the names of 3 cities, but anything other than that has been removed: cities, villages, streets and roads. So far no comment from Flickr on this issue.
This change to their map services means no one can use Flickr's Geotagging services on photos taken in Israel - whether they are citizens of the country, or tourists who visit Israel.
When looking at any other country on Flickr Maps, everything looks OK- everything appears. The only place on the globe that is missing is Israel, and to me thats weird. Why? Flickr is popular in Israel and even their Prime Minister is using it regularly. No one is sure if this was a conscious decision made by Flickr, or if its a bug in the system. Any attempt to get a response from the company has yet to be answered.
When using Google Maps, all towns and street names appear when looking for Israel:
The same exact view on Flickr Maps show the empty country:
Flickr are using an open map service called Leaflet. Leaflet uses a map database from openstreetmap.org - which actually does have a detailed map of every city in Israel. So it means one of 2 options: 1. Someone decided to erase anything related to israel on Flickr, or 2. something in the API is causing some issues and wont pass any info about Israel. The final result is the same: Israel is not on Flickr Maps.
I'm not sure what is the reason Flickr are not using OpenStreetMaps for Israel, the same way they use it for places like Tokyo, Beijing and other places Nokia Maps cant provide accurate maps for.
It's an interesting situation in the least, and possibly incredibly offensive at the most. Why do you think Israel has been excluded? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
UPDATE 1: As requested by our readers, we changed the title of this article.
UPDATE 2: The Huffington Post picked up the story and added details about the issue.
UPDATE 3: A representative from Yahoo! emailed the following note after reading the post on The Huffington Post: "The geographical data that appears on Flickr and Yahoo! Maps comes from a third party map provider and we are working with them to understand and improve the gap in geographic coverage that has been reported. Yahoo! always wants to ensure the best possible product experience for our users, and this falls short of those expectations. We are continually working to source and roll out coverage where there is room to provide greater mapping details. In particular, we hope and expect that you will see improved maps coverage of Israel shortly."
UPDATE 4: One day after writing this post, Flickr fixed the issue and added Israel back to their maps as seen below. Success. Thanks Flickr for addressing the issue.
umm.... isnt this the fault of the map service they are using and not flickr... sounds like a misguided or at the very least misinformed attempt to drum up some controversy...
http://maps.nokia.com/31.8993121,35.3073941,10,0,0,normal.day
Flickr Maps and Nokia maps are using an open map service called Leaflet. Leaflet uses a map database from another site called openstreetmap.org which actually does have very detailed street maps of every city in Israel. So it means one of 2 options: 1. Someone decided to erase anything related to israel, or 2. something in the API is causing some issues and wont pass any info about Israel. The final result is the same: Israel is not on Flickr's map. as a paying user - i dont care who is in charge of their maps - i want to see my country in there.
Could be a bug/human error.
E.g. someone trying to update a town etc in Israel but accidentally deleting all! I've once done that - oops (Italy) !
Database replication could mean it's slow to come back once corrected.
Maybe it has something to do with this:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/08/28/us-preparing-for-a-post-i...
or maybe it was just a glitch....
Good, it's about time the world stopped recognising an occupying terrorist state as a country.
If anyone is taking pictures in that part of the world, they just need to tag them as 'Palestine', because that's where they are.
Israel should be there like any other country in the world. Flickr have to fix it ASAP!!
2 likes!!!...this means that there are 2 other retarded people like you in this world....what a shame.
Dumb glitch that should be fixed. Reading any further into this is folly.
Glitch should be fixed within days. But no word from Flickr on this issue for weeks...
Seriously? There's nothing going in the world of photography that is actually worthy of the news? Get off your high horse for once, this is just annoying.
Hi guys, this is Pino from Nokia.
Just to be clear, Israel was not taken out of the map.
Nokia has maps for almost 200 countries that power services like Bing Maps, Yahoo! Maps and since roughly one year also flickr.
Unfortunately, we currently do not have high quality maps for Israel, which is why your mapping experience on flick is poor. We are working on it because we are committed to extend or improve our map coverage everywhere.
1. Flickr might be using Nokia Maps for most of the countries, but also uses OpenStreetMap data for cities/countries Nokia Maps dont have enough data for.
2. OpenStreetMap have a very detailed map of Israel. If flickr are using them for places like Beijing or Tokyo - they can use it for Israel.
You really think that Flickr has a problem with isreal, that they 'deleted the country' on purpose? This is inane.
not sure - just raising the issue. waiting to hear back from Flickr
Update us Noam if anything happens.
I'm with you :)
I think you may need to change the title of the article to indicate that an issue is preventing Israel from being shown on the map. Not that Flickr had removed it. As it is, the title is link-bait.
No one said its an issue preventing Israel from being on the map. It may be a bug, but maybe not... Waiting to hear Flickr's response on that.
Yeah, like, maybe there's a big anti-Jewish conspiracy by Flickr.
Christ, what an idiot.
Thanks, i love you too.
I hope this somehow bites you on the ass. I'm not sure if it can or will, but I would really like it to.
People like you are a fucking disgrace. You've got control of a public blog, read by hundreds of thousands of people, and rather than use it for something positive, you instead use it to drum up negativity by accusing a completely innocent company of antisemitism.
You're a gutless piece of shit.
If I ran this blog, you'd be shown the fucking door.
I really dont care if its Israel or England that are missing. Im here to say its wrong, and should be fixed. If you find that it happens for other countries let me know and ill make sure to change the story.
I never said Flickr are antisemites. I'm a big fan of Flickr and really have no reason to call them that way.
"i dont care who is in charge of their maps - i want to see my country in there " Seems you DO care that it's Israel.
And yes, you most certainly are accusing them of antisemitism. But only in a very weak, spiritless, back-biting way.
True - because its my country, and using that map to tag the photos I took there I found out about it. It happens. If NYC or Denmark will be missing from the map I'll find it as interesting and will make the same accusations. Not sure what you want.
Ideally, what I want is some honesty. It's quite clear nobody is going to get that from you.
When you begin articles with "Flickr removed Israel from their maps".
When someone from Nokia actually takes the time to come on here and explain the problem, only for you to slyly insinuate that they aren't telling the truth.
When you say "it may be a bug, it may be not"
and finally, when you finally outright acuse people of antisemitism, it's pretty obvious that your agenda isn't merely to inform people of a potential bug in Flickr's system.
This is what I can't stand about people like you. You want to cause problems, but you haven't got the balls to admit it when someone calls you out.
Don't, for one second, pretend you had only good intentions with this blog post.
You're a liar.
In the eyes of any reasonable person, you have damaged yourself with this update and you've hit a sinister note across this site.
The fact Nokia have no good maps of Israel is known, and unrelated to the post. They are not the ones to blame and I really appreciate the fact he came here and apologized for that. But its not explaining why Israel is not on Flickr.
If Israel is your country, then what are you doing in America? It's impossible to sincerely maintain dual loyalties.
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." - Matthew 6:24
I think im doing ok.
You think dual loyalty is OK?
Yes... not sure what you're asking and how its really related to the post. but yes, im Israeli and will always be Israeli. BTW - i also have american citizenship. Head.... exploded ;)
The Oath required for naturalized US citizenship contains a pledge to renounce all allegiance to foreign states:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce
and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate,
state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject
or citizen"
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176...
Are you still claiming allegiance to the foreign state of Israel?
I have dual citizenship, so no need to do any of this :)
Um... doesn't the United States support Israel? If so, why is this even an issue?
It's his home country, surely he would have some feelings of pride for it. Just because he immigrated doesn't mean he should just abandon or kick aside any positive feelings for the country and culture of his origins.
Let's just hope Flickr can resolve this issue soon and that the people of Israel can go back to enjoying and using their map service. Wait... this post is suppose to be about Flickr, right? Okay... just checking. Let's try and stay on topic.
you dont run this blog, for apparent reasons
Know strategy on this site.
But i'd be more afraid of flickr reding this and seing it as damageable for their brand...
you know how lawyers are.
hahaha
I'm sure there is a non-antisemite reason for this...
Don't get your payot in a bunch.
Yeah im pretty sure its going to be fixed. Im a big fan of Flickr, and this post was made just because no one from Flickr was able to answer people's questions about this matter, and did nothing to fix this issue. Not saying Flickr did it as an antisemite thing, but for sure we have commenters here that are....
haha, now you're accusing READERS of antisemitism? Yeah, it MUST because you're Jewish, Noam, not because you're a pot-stirring, link-baiting idiot.
Keep it up Mr. JPG - You just proves that Noam was right.
There is also a way of saying things, curse like a troll is not one of them.
Sorry, are you calling me antisemitic? My Jewish girlfriend, my Jewish daughter, and her Jewish grandparents need to be informed of this!
Oh God, just please shuuut uuup already. It's ok. Go vent somewhere else.
I'll be staying.
something like that HAHA
right.
Because some called your post that has Israel as a subject for what it is (garbage and a lame attempt to get clics on the site) they are antsemite.
If the bug had affected another country (let's pretend it's south africa) would they have been called racists readers?
Do yourself a favor, and keep politics out of photography.
I said what i said just because of his first comment here. I understand people are going to say stuff related to the story - but he didnt, he just said anti israel and political stuff. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Now I hope we can talk about the issue, and not about unrelated stuff.
there is no issue god damn it.
Stop trying to make a storm out of a fart.
OK, there is no issue. but there is a problem. better now? :)
I blame the Mossad.
It really does not matter if it's Israel, Iran, u.s.a or Luxembourg - as a flickr user i want, and need to see all the countries on the map.
Noam - I'm with you!!!.
keep update.
Oh wow conspiracy..!! And my iphone doesn't even know there is a Starbucks next door. Who cares...non-story.
Maybe it`S because of war preparations. Same with GPS which can be turned of if necessary.