Gregory's ServerPeople seem to like controversy, so for this week's #geoweirdness thread we thought weโd post about a very contentious geo topic we often get asked about: disputed borders.
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3/ First letโs look at some examples. Some countries take disputes very seriously, and legally you can only show the border they deem to be correct. A famous โactiveโ case is the border between India ๐ฎ๐ณ and Pakistan ๐ต๐ฐ 4/ Occasionally disputes lead to violence and escalate into all out war, as sadly seen recently between Armenia ๐ฆ๐ฒ and Azerbaijan ๐ฆ๐ฟ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia%E2%80%93Azerbaijan_border_crisis_(2021%E2%80%93present) 5/ Happily not all border disputes lead to violence. Often the disputes are small and the parties just โagree to disagreeโ. One such example we covered in our #geoweirdness thread about non-state territories of the United States: both the US ๐บ๐ธ and Haiti ๐ญ๐น claim tiny Navassa Island 6/ There are some very creative border dispute solutions - for example the tiny mid-river island that changes country between Spain ๐ช๐ธ and France ๐ซ๐ท every 6 months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheasant_Island See our #geoweirdness thread about France 7/ And sometimes disputes are resolved peacefully, as was the case recently between Canada ๐จ๐ฆ and Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฑ who settled their disagreement over the ownership of tiny Hans Island - site of the delightful "Whiskey War" which involved trading bottles of alcohol ๐พ to show possession of the island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_War See our thread about Denmark: https://elk.zone/en.osm.town/@opencage/110165247337780685 8/ Many border disputes are caused by rivers changing their course. Look at the border between the US ๐บ๐ธ states of Mississippi and Arkansas. The border follows the path of the river as it once was, not as it now is. 9/ In many places there are disagreements about which side of the river/water the border is on. For example between Germany ๐ฉ๐ช and the Netherlands ๐ณ๐ฑ at the mouth of the Ems river https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch-Niederl%C3%A4ndische_Grenzfrage 10/ Sometimes disputes arise because the old methods of surveying the border werenโt very accurate. This can lead to surprises when the border is re-surveyed using more modern technologies, like this example between US ๐บ๐ธ states North and South Carolina. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-redraw-in-the-carolinas-would-mean-19-homes-changing-states/ 11/ There are even bizarre situations where two bordering countries claim to both NOT own territory. See for example the case of "Liberland" on the Danube which is claimed by neither Croatia ๐ญ๐ท nor Serbia ๐ท๐ธ We covered it in our #geoweirdness thread about Croatia: 12/ So with all this disagreement, how does our geocoding API handle disputes? Who is โrightโ? We use the main OpenStreetMap database which follows the principal of "most widely internationally recognised and best meets realities on the ground". Here's the OpenStreetMap Foundation's official policy doc: https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/File:DisputedTerritoriesInformation.pdf 13/ The great thing about #OpenStreetMap: OSM is a database, not a map. If you disagree with the OSMF's view you are free to take a copy, and use it to make maps showing the world the way you think it should be - whatever your view. Several local OSM communities do this. 14/ Borders are a passionate topic, there aren't always simple answers. Want more disputed borders? As always, wikipedia is the place for comprehensive list: 15/ The list of disputes is long and complicated - this thread could go on and on, but we'll wrap up this week's #geoweirdness thread there. Thanks for reading and boosting. We have more threads about specific countries, geocoding, etc on our blog.  |
2/ More borders around the world than you might think are disputed.
Sometimes between countries, sometimes within countries, for example regions that want independence. Each case is unique with its own history and cultural context.
But how should our geocoding API handle this?
#geoweirdness