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Iran Plans To Launch an 'Islamic Google Earth'

Posted by Soulskill on from the hope-they-can-come-up-with-a-better-name-than-that dept.

Shipwack sends this quote from the Guardian: "The Iranian authorities have long accused Google Earth of being a tool for western spy agencies, but now they have taken their attacks on the 3D mapping service one step further — by planning the launch of an 'Islamic' competitor. ... The minister, however, gave little information on what he meant by an Islamic 3D map. 'We are developing this service with the Islamic views we have in Iran and we will put a kind of information on our website that would take people of the world towards reality Our values in Iran are the values of God and this would be the difference between Basir and the Google Earth, which belongs to the ominous triangle of the U.S., England and the Zionists [a reference to Israel].' Experts, however, have serious doubts about the project. An IT consultant who has worked on Iran's national internet project in the past said the announcement was merely an excuse to obtain funds and secure working contracts for the future. 'They have claimed to run their service in four months and said their data centre capacity will reach Google's size in three years,' he said. 'Three-year project, no business model and only relying on government funding, a piece of cake indeed. To have a data centre with such capacity and security level they need power stations, cooler systems, bandwidth, etc, which will require billions of dollars of investment that doesn't fit with Iran's sanctions-hit economy.'"

181 comments

  1. That's how they will do it by onyxruby · · Score: 5, Funny

    They have long wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the map and this is how they will do it. Just make their own maps and pretend they don't exist. Now if only they would do support virtual terrorism instead of real terrorism.

    1. Re:That's how they will do it by sethradio · · Score: 1

      Quixotism at its best.

      --
      "Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
    2. Re:That's how they will do it by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Their plan for world domination was stalled fourteen centuries ago - by the French, of all people (mind you, even the French were different 14 centuries ago!) - so they want at least a tiny teeny virtual simulation of what it would be like.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:That's how they will do it by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      So, basically they will redraw the map of the region to what it looked like before the Brits showed up?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:That's how they will do it by kdogg73 · · Score: 1

      +1 Brilliant.

      --
      Let's face it, most of us are scoffers. But moments before zero hour, it does not pay to take chances.
    5. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their plan for world domination was stalled fourteen centuries ago - by the French, of all people

      The Moors were stopped from entering France by the Basques, who had just a few centuries prior, prevented the Franks from invading Spain.

      Basque: a small group of intractable fuckers whose 2500 years of foreign policy reads like a Grumpy Cat meme.

    6. Re:That's how they will do it by erroneus · · Score: 1

      I was going to go with something "flat earth" but this is much better. Well done.

    7. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All those street level images with women in them, they will al be photoshopped to put bhurkas on them.

    8. Re:That's how they will do it by Ken_g6 · · Score: 1

      Now if only they would do support virtual terrorism instead of real terrorism.

      I rather hope they don't do that either. Did you see the next story?

      --
      (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
    9. Re:That's how they will do it by flimflammer · · Score: 1

      That was honestly what I was thinking when I read the summary.

    10. Re:That's how they will do it by jitterman · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Moors were stopped...

      Oh no, I'm so sorry it's the Moops. The correct answer is the Moops.

      --
      For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
    11. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry but that's not true. The Moors were defeated at the battle of Tours / Poitiers, which is already inside France and has nothing to do with the Basques.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours
      Pretty sure the Sueves and Visigoths didn't just let them waltz right in and go straight to the Franks.

    12. Re:That's how they will do it by r1348 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You are aware right, that Iranians are not Arabs?

    13. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their plan for world domination was stalled fourteen centuries ago - by the French, of all people (mind you, even the French were different 14 centuries ago!).

      Ya know, I'm getting really sick of this cheese-eating surrender monkey meme. Lets have a deal, you US folks and I. When your friends and family are in imminent danger from a hostile, genocidal force who is lined up on your border with huge amounts of advanced military hardware and the tanks start rolling across the plains and you stand up to them rather than get out of the way so that you can save those you hold dear then you can gloss other people with the surrender monkey meme.

      Ok?

    14. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's all sand and burqas anyway.



      ...note that is not racist.

    15. Re:That's how they will do it by stenvar · · Score: 1

      The Persian empires were even worse.

    16. Re:That's how they will do it by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      I thought it was Alexander, 26 centuries ago.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    17. Re:That's how they will do it by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      All those street level images with women in them, they will al be photoshopped to put bhurkas on them.

      Wow you just made me think of an excellent idea. Let's start a competing maps site (oh wait we already have openmaps) and lets have a street view with every chick under 30 completely nude. In about two days it will be more popular than google maps.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    18. Re:That's how they will do it by CanEHdian · · Score: 1

      Don't forget the Reconquista, the re-taking of Iberian peninsula (a/k/a/ the Caliphate of Cordoba) from the Islamic invaders.

      Regarding the "Halal Earth" I bet you won't be able to find suntanning women (no links provided!), but how about people in for instance France at a cafe terrace drinking wine?

      --
      When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
    19. Re:That's how they will do it by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      I figure they'll just replace North America with a picture of a camel.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    20. Re:That's how they will do it by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      Or the US southeast with all their pork BBQs?

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    21. Re:That's how they will do it by buchner.johannes · · Score: 2, Informative

      They have long wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the map and this is how they will do it.

      Please stop circulating this myth and criticize Iran by its actual statements.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    22. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course. But calling them Arabs pisses them off so much that it is hard to refrain from doing so.

    23. Re:That's how they will do it by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 0

      You are aware right, that Iranians are not Arabs?

      My statement was less about having funny noses and writing an Indo-European language in an impractical script, and more about their participating in a particular widespread theistic mass hallucination. (Said hallucination actually having as one of its tenets that it doesn't matter if you're an Arab, a Persian or a Zulu, as long as you're "Us" and not "Them" - unless you're a Jew, of course. In that case you're going to hell anyway even though you''ve never asked for getting born as one - sort of like a Middle-Eastern version of Calvinism, only without Calvin and with turbans.)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    24. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not the Zoroastrian empires - the Median, Parthian, Sassanid. It was the post Islamic empires - Saminid, Safavi, et al that were worse.

    25. Re:That's how they will do it by khartoum · · Score: 2

      Iran is a vast nation of heady jungles, dense forests, lush fields, snow-capped mountains, sandy beaches, leopards, eagles, flowers and the finest fruit east of Africa. And indeed, pristine desert. Not to mention the lovely people, of whom the vast majority resent the actions of their government.

    26. Re:That's how they will do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I speak Persian. The actual words Ahmadinejad used mean Israel should be erased from the page of history. Idiomatically this is use in the same way as wiped off the map. Are you an Iranian supporter? In my eyes "erased from the page of history" is just as bad as "wiped off the map." Both imply the destruction of Israel.

    27. Re:That's how they will do it by descubes · · Score: 1

      About "surrender monkeys", US citizen should remember their history.

      September 1st, 1939: Germany invades Poland
      September 3rd, 1939: France and UK declare war on Germany to honor their alliance with Poland, counting on their US ally to follow suit.
      September 5th, 1939: The US proclaims their neutrality in the conflict, leaving the road wide open to Germany.

      If the US had done for France and UK what France and UK did for Poland, chances are WWII would have stopped in 1939.

      --
      -- Did you try Tao3D? http://tao3d.sourceforge.net
  2. So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone up for a corn field portrait of a certain prophet?

    1. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      I think they plan to have lots of virgins there.

    2. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      I think they have lots of virgins here.

      FTFY.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    3. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by Kittenman · · Score: 1

      I think they plan to have lots of virgins there.

      Where, exactly?

      --
      "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
    4. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      /. sure has a lot of them.

      Hey, nobody said anything about them having to be female, right?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've never understood that religion's fascination with having lots of virgins, it's just a lot of crap sex.

    6. Re:So it will have burkas instead of smudges? by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      It's great if you have a tiny dick and don't want them to realize how pathetic you are. I think that's why all these assholes are so fascinated about blowing themselves up and killing a bunch of people in the process. Lot's of women that don't realize what they're missing, hell of a fantasy. Personally I hope they wind up in a place with a 300 pound faggot named Bubba.

  3. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what else is there to say?

  4. Islamic 3D Earth by Burpmaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it'll be flat?

    1. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by sethradio · · Score: 1

      No, It'll be round, just wearing a burka.

      --
      "Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
    2. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

    3. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think Burpmaster was referring to the fact that in the Qur'an, the earth is said to be flat. Unlike for Christianity, where the bible doesn't have divine origins, in Islam, the Qur'an does, and therefore, once it states something, nothing - not even scientific proofs - can negate it.

      But on TFA, that brings to mind a different question. Iran will claim that it's the Islamic Google Earth, but will Sunnis - who are 90% of the world's Muslims and which Iranians are not - will Sunnis accept the Iranian claims? I could easily see the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Malaysians come up with their own version and claim THAT to be the true Islamic version, and where does that then leave Iran? Maybe Iran should start a war against Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrein and Qatar and prove to them that their Islam is the true Islam. Or vice versa.

    4. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by scsirob · · Score: 1

      So, what would be the point of creating a 3D image of a proclaimed 2D world?!?

      --
      To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    5. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      More polygons?

    6. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 1

      More polygons?

      Don't you mean more cowbell?

      --
      If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    7. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OH GOD THEY TOOK CHRISTOPHER WALKEN HOSTAGE????

      Quick, someone go to Tehran and pretend to make a movie!

    8. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by thomasw_lrd · · Score: 1

      Wasn't that what Iraq tried to do when it invaded Kuwait? We all know how that turned out.

      --
      21st Century Renaissance Man
    9. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unlike for Christianity, where the bible doesn't have divine origins

      Maybe not the entire thing, but according to a Mormon friend of mine, Genesis is the direct word of God.

    10. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by magarity · · Score: 4, Funny

      the fact that in the Qur'an, the earth is said to be flat. ... therefore, once it states something, nothing - not even scientific proofs - can negate it.

      OK: what impact (pun intended) does that have when an islamic rocket scientist tries to calculate an ballistic missile trajectory?

    11. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Unlike for Christianity, where the bible doesn't have divine origins,

      Incorrect. Christian fundamentalists insist that the Bible is inerrant, and the divine/inspired word of God. Many other Christians will insist it is inspired by God (which sounds like "divine origins" to me). These two groups probably comprise the majority of Christians in the USA.

    12. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think Burpmaster was referring to the fact that in the Qur'an, the earth is said to be flat.

      Are you sure about that? The Earth was understood to be round before Islam. I don't know if that understanding was in the Arab world at the time.

    13. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think an Islamic 3D Earth is a great idea! The big difficulty in the plan will be convincing the Islamic folks to go live there . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    14. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they all can be slapped down hard with any one of the thousands of contradictions in the "inerrant", "divine/inspired word of God".

    15. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Really? That dude is THAT incoherent and inconsistent?

      No wonder the world's such a mess.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    16. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Ch_Omega · · Score: 1

      I think Burpmaster was referring to the fact that in the Qur'an, the earth is said to be flat.

      Are you sure about that? The Earth was understood to be round before Islam. I don't know if that understanding was in the Arab world at the time.

      Yes.

    17. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "These two groups probably comprise the majority of Christians in the USA."
      no,. they don't. There just the loudest sects of that particular cult.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    18. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      OH GOD THEY TOOK CHRISTOPHER WALKEN HOSTAGE????
      Quick, someone go to Tehran and pretend to make a movie!

      no one would believe you want him as an actor in your movie.

    19. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Not from what I've read, though my prior statement probably needs a modifier: "excepting Catholics". According to statistics I've seen, the mainline Protestants have been losing members steadily, while the fundamentalists and "non-denominational" evangelicals have been growing fast, so much so that the latter now outnumber the former. The Catholics probably comprise around 1/3. So, maybe not a clear majority, but definitely a large and growing minority.

    20. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      No, they can't. They'll argue that those aren't contradictions at all. Google it: there's websites full of explanations for why these contradictions really aren't, according to them.

    21. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if they don't fear the reaper, and are members of an oyster cult of a certain color. :P

    22. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by zugmeister · · Score: 4, Funny

      Simple:
      1. Create 3D map image.
      2. ...
      3. Prophet!

    23. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      The earth is flat, within bounds. So they're right. Just don't sail off the edge.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    24. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Trogre · · Score: 1

      Um, so are you making the case that most Christians in the USA neither believe the bible is inerrant word of God, or inspired by God?

      Forgive me, but citation please?

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    25. Re: Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but don't worry about your heirloom watch, he managed to hide it before they got him.

    26. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by petman · · Score: 1

      I think Burpmaster was referring to the fact that in the Qur'an, the earth is said to be flat.

      Bullshit. The Qur'an says no such thing.

      --
      Dropbox drops it like it's hot.
    27. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Exitar · · Score: 1

      Just put there 72 virgins and call it a day.

    28. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's a matter of historical record that the Prophet comes before the map making.

    29. Re:Islamic 3D Earth by quenda · · Score: 1

      an islamic rocket scientist tries to calculate an ballistic missile trajectory?

      No such thing. All rocket scientists are Jews. Fortunately for them, Iran still has a few.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Jews

  5. Filtered Perspectives by donut1005 · · Score: 1

    I would love to see the Conservapedia.com article on this project.

    --
    3A 4E 22 05 C1 83 0B 7A
    It's random, but my posting it here is probably considered illegal to someone.
  6. I know what it will look like... by tnk1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It will look something like this:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_and_O_map

    Only, it will probably be centered in Mecca.

  7. Is this from the Onion or SNL? by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 1

    It reads like it was written by an Onion "journalists" ...

    Although I will tell you it is scary when some says "Our values in Iran are the values of God" It is odd how the values of God always seem to take on the values of the subject adherent.

    1. Re:Is this from the Onion or SNL? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I tend to like that sort of statement. It allows me to quickly identify those who most likely do not share such values.

  8. It is Battle of the Bands! by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

    We have the Axis of Evil and they have the Ominous Triangle.

    Who can rock hardest?!!!
    Who can guitar solo the longest?!!!
    Who has the most gonzo drummer?!!!

    It is like Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey but everybody forgot to be excellent to each other!

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    1. Re:It is Battle of the Bands! by gandhi_2 · · Score: 1

      The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla is strangely appropriate here.

      --
      THL phish sticks
    2. Re:It is Battle of the Bands! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No mod points, but I LOL'd.

    3. Re:It is Battle of the Bands! by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      What exactly is a gonzo drummer? Stoned and completely off time?

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    4. Re:It is Battle of the Bands! by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      What exactly is a gonzo drummer? Stoned and completely off time?

      https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94B59BC66603620A

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    5. Re:It is Battle of the Bands! by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Oh wow.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  9. Quickly! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Funny

    Time to draw some giant Mohammed cartoons in the desert, Nazca-style!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Quickly! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Infidel.

  10. Say what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if it will show the mountain that floated over to Mohammed. I always wondered where that was.

    I will do this anonymously, of course, lest a mortal from the Religion of Peace decide infinitely powerful God needs help to murder me for my insolence.

    1. Re:Say what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one is planning on doing anything to you for possibly doubting the Prophet (PBUH).

      Now, where did you say you lived again?

  11. So there's "Islamic" geography now? by n5vb · · Score: 1

    Is that like extremist "Christian" geography? (Or astronomy, for that matter?)

    1. Re:So there's "Islamic" geography now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that like extremist "Christian" geography? (Or astronomy, for that matter?)

      Would that be the geography where the earth is at the centre of the solar system and the stars are fixed to crystal spheres? You should take a look at Christian geology it's interesting what people will do to cram the entire geological and paleontological history of the earth in to the 6000 years postulated by Bishop Ussher.

    2. Re:So there's "Islamic" geography now? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Is that like extremist "Christian" geography? (Or astronomy, for that matter?)

      If you read the OP correctly, we are in the correct bottom.

      Which can be good or bad, depending on the context.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  12. a tool for western spy agencies? by CanadianRealist · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure western spy agencies have access to much better tools than Google Earth. You probably could claim that Google Earth is a produce of tools for western spy agencies. That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with Google Earth.

    ... we will put a kind of information on our website that would take people of the world towards reality

    Wouldn't it be much simpler to just point out what part of Google Earth does not represent reality?

    1. Re:a tool for western spy agencies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it was Apples' maps that didn't represent reality.

    2. Re:a tool for western spy agencies? by gandhi_2 · · Score: 2

      Actually, the system we used in Iraq recently made me WISH for a siprnet google earth.

      --
      THL phish sticks
    3. Re:a tool for western spy agencies? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

      Easily explained. Jobs died, the reality distortion field stopped working, the world stopped conforming to the TRUTH(tm) contained within Apple maps.
      You thought the RDF was just a metaphor, you silly person.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    4. Re:a tool for western spy agencies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google Earth is a spinoff of software developed by Keyhole, Inc., which was primarily a defense contractor at one point.

      Kinda like how the internet started as ARPANET and went public later on. Not exactly a bad thing.

    5. Re:a tool for western spy agencies? by kamapuaa · · Score: 1

      Oh Jesus Chris, I already read iJobs. I really do not need to hear the phrase "reality distortion field" one more time in my life.

      --
      Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  13. Or Maybee... by slash.jit · · Score: 1

    Or maybe they just want to develop their own software to automate nuke attacks on other countries with drones :)

  14. I'm confused... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is this just a huckster trying to make a few bucks off nationalist suckers by offering to draw a map with a few contentious names and borders modified(the sort of thing that a script kiddie could do by hacking together a KML layer for google earth in about 10 minutes; but I digress...) or is there some sort of 'Islamic geography' that has serious issues with basic tenents of what we know about our dear home geoid?

    I'm honestly curious... It certainly isn't uncommon to have mere nationalist spats over mapping; but that's just standard political bluster.

    Religious convictions that are seriously opposed to empirically demonstrable facts about the world, though, tend to be fairly amusing and sometimes quirky. You've got your flat earthers, your YECs, your geocentericists(does the Tychonic system get any love anymore?), your 'baraminologists', faith healers of a zillion different flavors, people who are pretty sure that Jesus and/or the 'lost tribes of Israel' ended up in North America, you name it, we've got it...

    Is this just the tedious nationalism, or does folk islam have some weird bug up its ass about the-world-as-observed-from-orbit?

    1. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they can get together with conservapedia to create a brave new alternate reality.

    2. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is probably to maintain and further their own truth.

      For instance, look at Chinese maps. They are drawn as if most of Southeast Asia already belongs to China, including all those disputed islands all over the place. Chinese children have been taught this as truth for decades, so nobody can touch those territories because China will obviously gladly 'defend' them.

      I suppose this Islamic map must have a similar goal.

    3. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Addition: in Europe maps are drawn with Europe in its center. In America maps are drawn with America in its center.

    4. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Addition: in Europe maps are drawn with Europe in its center. In America maps are drawn with America in its center.

      Nah, Most US maps have North and South America on the left, Africa dead center and Eurasia sprawled atop her. (Like the cheap whore it is.) Oz is in the right bottom, Anartica center very bottom and islands peppered around the continents.

    5. Re:I'm confused... by Nimey · · Score: 2

      This just in: Australians are bottoms.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    6. Re:I'm confused... by Rogue+Haggis+Landing · · Score: 3, Informative

      ... is there some sort of 'Islamic geography' that has serious issues with basic tenents of what we know about our dear home geoid?

      Many years ago I knew a Lebanese Muslim cartographer, who worked with one of my relatives (a geographer), and I actually talked to him about this sort of thing. The short version is that most of the the modern world maps he worked with were exactly the same as Western maps, centered on the Greenwich meridian because of the conventional measure of longitude and so as to avoid splitting up big landmasses. The avowedly Muslim ones would be just the same, only centered on Mecca or, more often, on the point on the equator due south of Mecca.

      Centering the map on Mecca generally means cutting off Antarctica and the southern end of Argentina. Mecca is at about 21 N, so you can potentially get the north pole down to about 48 S (Tierra Del Fuego ends at about 56 S). The more normal practice of centering on the equator south of Mecca means that the edges of the map run through the eastern Pacific and cut Alaska off from the rest of the US, putting it and Hawaii at the far right of the map, while the Yukon stretches to the left edge of the map. That's not a huge difference from the standard Western map. It looks like it because of the distortions of the Mercator projection, but it's not generally a big deal. Centering the map on the Greenwich meridian is a convention; centering it on Mecca's meridian is a different one.

      (It's interesting to note that maps are centered on Greenwich simply because latitude is measured from there, and yet the Greenwich meridian is very close to being an ideal central spot if you're interested in avoiding splitting any landmasses. A map centered on a Hamburg or Tunis meridian would perfectly split the Bering Strait, but Greenwich is pretty good. The world's mapmakers got lucky with that one.)

      One would of course assume that an Iranian map would have some, shall we say, "provocative" interpretations of national boundaries and place names in the eastern Mediterranean.

      On a semi-related note, in the geography-related fields it's demographers who are most prone to the nationalist (etc) political difficulties and shenanigans. My relative's department had a demographer from somewhere in East Africa who in the 1980s had to leave his home country after making population estimates that showed the wrong tribe as having a very high population. It's a lot easier to insist on lies about population numbers than on lies about the contours of the planet Earth.

    7. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This isn't as stupid of a question as you think. Islamic geography is every bit as real of a thing as feminist geography. (Yes, that's a thing too). Typically it is the study of the geospatial distribution of culture, but I have seen some interesting cartography projects. Typically physical geography is typically not covered in this realm, but it might be interesting to see the direction they take it.

    8. Re:I'm confused... by Millennium · · Score: 1

      We do tend to draw pictures of globes with America in the center (or top-center), though.

    9. Re:I'm confused... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      ...(It's interesting to note that maps are centered on Greenwich simply because latitude is measured from there...

      Dude --

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    10. Re:I'm confused... by Gogo0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      yeah, those are called "maps of the USA", likewise, a map of spain doesnt typically include the rest of the continent or neighbors.
      another sign that blind nationalism is really out of hand: when people base their criticisms on map orientation

    11. Re:I'm confused... by jrumney · · Score: 1

      There's also the fact that Google blurs out people's faces in streetview images, while Iran's Islamic streetview would blur out everything but the faces.

    12. Re:I'm confused... by zugmeister · · Score: 1

      A few years ago, it was decided that putting the USA in the center of the map was showing a preference to, well, us Americans. Following the PC logic that anything pushing us up is pushing everyone else in the world down, we commenced making maps where we no longer appear to be the center of the world. This may not be universal, it was a national public school decision if I remember correctly.

    13. Re:I'm confused... by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Addition: in Europe maps are drawn with Europe in its center. In America maps are drawn with America in its center.

      Nah, Most US maps have North and South America on the left, Africa dead center and Eurasia sprawled atop her. (Like the cheap whore it is.) Oz is in the right bottom, Anartica center very bottom and islands peppered around the continents.

      Centring maps on the Greenwich meridian seems to be the globally accepted standard for creating world maps. The advantage of this the page is split on the anti meridian where there are no significant land masses.

      But it doesn't matter where you split maps, as long as the map is geographically correct. I.E. if you're travelling on the pacific ocean, you don't give a crap if the map is split in the middle of Africa or the Americas as long as it's accurate and you get the complete pacific.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    14. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where's my car?

    15. Re:I'm confused... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just did a quick Google for "World Map" and it appears that most of them have centered roughly around Western Africa. I did find one global map with CONUS in the center, but then again, I found a nifty Australian one with Australia in the center and the entire map "upside down" to the rest of us.

    16. Re:I'm confused... by Xest · · Score: 1

      Some people don't like the idea of the UK being at the centre of the map, they say that it's a relic of British imperialism and hence if they have strong anti-British views they find it something worth complaining about, because god forbid something that happened in the distant past has an effect on how something is commonly done today.

      Others complain that the common Mercator projection distorts the world to make their favourite country too small/a country they hate too big and then offer some conspiracy about how that's some kind of psychological warfare against the country that's too small or to make the country that's too big seem more "powerful" than it is or whatever. On this note, there's a somewhat relevant XKCD:

      http://xkcd.com/977/

      I'm sure it'll be based on one or both of these things, it usually is. That and probably renaming Israel to Palestine, calling the Falklands the Malvinas, calling South Korea just Korea with Pyongyang as it's capital, calling Taiwan China, reverting Alaska back to Russian territory, and that sort of typical pointless and childish nation state trolling.

  15. America by Pallidrone · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if it will show a crudely drawn America with the caption - "Here be dragons".

    1. Re:America by DougOtto · · Score: 1

      Not dragons, infidels.

      --
      Solving Unix problems since 1989...
    2. Re:America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prior art. Assuming they have injunctions against that, and for those who don't get the ref.

    3. Re:America by Alsee · · Score: 1

      I think you misspelled 'Satan'.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  16. Spain by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 1

    So will Spain be replaced by the Caliphate of Córdoba?

    1. Re:Spain by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      It's called Al-Andalus, you insensitive clod.

    2. Re:Spain by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      There can be only one Caliphate and only one Caliph, seeing how the title is for the leader of all the faithful (they may disagree on who that should be, but each group would still only accept one).

      And Cordoba was an Emirate.

    3. Re:Spain by CanEHdian · · Score: 1

      "Abd-ar-Rahman III (Abd al-Rahmn ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah) was the Emir and Caliph of Córdoba (912–961) of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus. Called al-Nasir li-Din Allah ("the Defender of God's Faith"), he ascended the throne in his early 20s, and reigned for half a century as the most powerful prince of Iberia. Although people of all creeds enjoyed tolerance and freedom of religion under his rule, he repelled the Fatimids, partly by supporting their Maghrawa enemies in North-Africa, and partly by claiming the title Caliph (ruler of the Islamic world) for himself."

      Then there were Al-Hakam II "the second Caliph of Cordoba" and Hisham II "the third Caliph of Cordoba". Especially the Hisham II entry is very insightful as to the climate/atmospherics of the downfall of the Caliphate.

      --
      When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  17. This Just In! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    We have breaking news Mike! It appears that the country and religious view that you currently ascribe too are infact the right and correct view. All other countries, religions and fashions are in fact ridiculous. It is totally laughable that another nation could ever accomplish all the glorious things that yours has. They can not do anything right. As a matter of fact Mike, it is soo laughable that it is in fact ridiculous.

    There is in fact no need to travel to the strange lands and foreign peoples to see them first hand. Here at the 'On Point News Network' we will give you a more comprehensive analysis of the situation then you could ever possibly develope by going there or talking to people from that strange backward place. We have done this analysis, and are happy to report that you are in fact better then them. You truly live in a blessed time. If you had been born just 20 years ago, your world point of view would be completely different, and in fact wrong. Yes you would be beating up black people just for the hell of it. How ignorant would that be.

    Now, back to our breaking story on Lindsy Lohan. This is important, our viewers do not want to miss it...

    1. Re:This Just In! by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Thank God, I was starting to worry that the right answer was "Kali Cultist".

  18. in photoshop? by Faisal+Rehman · · Score: 1

    will they use gimp or photoshop?

    1. Re:in photoshop? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2

      will they use gimp or photoshop?

      No, they would never use such un-Islamic tools. Of course the maps will be hand-drawn.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  19. I would God would create a PKI... by Beeftopia · · Score: 2

    ... so that I could confirm with a trusted third party that when someone claims to be speaking for, or doing the will of God, that I can reliably confirm it instead of just having to take the original individual's word for it.

    Our values in Iran are the values of God

    1. Re:I would God would create a PKI... by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      I think, the best course of action when someone is claiming to speak for God, would be to A) run far, far away, as fast as you can, and if possible B) have their loony asses committed.

      For the good of the species.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:I would God would create a PKI... by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      ... so that I could confirm with a trusted third party that when someone claims to be speaking for, or doing the will of God, that I can reliably confirm it instead of just having to take the original individual's word for it.

      Our values in Iran are the values of God

      What sacrilege is this?!

      God already created the most effective PKI verification system EVER. It's so simple and effective even a cave man could use it.

      If someone says something is according to God's will, is done in His name, or is speaking on behalf of God: They Are Lying!

  20. Let me guess by Lucas123 · · Score: 1

    It's two dimensional and has depictions of water falls on all sides.

    1. Re:Let me guess by harrkev · · Score: 1

      What about the four elephants on the back of giant space turtle?

      --
      "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
    2. Re:Let me guess by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      Ahh, Great A'Tuin, the astrochelonian. Yes.

      All the way down.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  21. ALL RIGHT we'll create our own Google Earth! by Thud457 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Without BLACKJACK!
    Or HOOKERS!


    or Israel.
    or gays.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:ALL RIGHT we'll create our own Google Earth! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until anonymous gets bored enough and inserts some of 4chans favorite artistry into Basir.

    2. Re:ALL RIGHT we'll create our own Google Earth! by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Or porn.
      Or anyone using it.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  22. Terrorist view by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 4, Funny

    They could replace street view with Terrorist View, showing all the best places for terrorist bombings.

    Yes, I know not all people from that part of the world are terrorists. But that is a lot less funny.

    --
    If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    1. Re:Terrorist view by Iniamyen · · Score: 2

      They could replace the magnifying glass cursor with a crosshairs cursor.

  23. Islamic Google Earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    1. The Earth turns around Mecca.
    2. There is no Israel. :-P

  24. Sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MPAA/RIAA, is that you?

  25. Introducing mullaearth by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

    I think it is great to have more countries get off their collective asses and start publishing competing geospatial datasets and stop smooching off the devil/great satan/colonial empire..ad nauseum.

    The problem is if your an Iranian citizen you are likely to be better off with the spookes behind google earth vs mullaearth from the perspective of local oppression especially if "competition" really means we're also going to block google earth so you have no choice.

  26. Google data center by booch · · Score: 2

    So they're going to be bigger than Google's data center in 3 years? That's interesting, because nobody really knows how big Google's data centers are. I'd be willing to bet that most of the server admins at Google have no idea how many servers they have. The current estimates are approaching 2 million servers though. I have a very hard time believing that Iran is going to be able to build 2 million servers and the required infrastructure to run 2 million servers in the next 3 years.

    I'm also curious why they'd need that many servers to run a mapping service. Their service would pretty much be guaranteed to have fewer users than Google, and provide only a fraction of the services that Google does. So I guess they're admitting that they don't really know anything about utilizing servers effectively. Or perhaps we should assume the more likely scenario -- that they're completely making all of this up.

    --
    Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
    1. Re:Google data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is physically bigger! Just imagine 1 GIG scsi drives from 1990 that are 2U in height!

    2. Re:Google data center by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Take a server. Move it outside. Congrats! Your "data center" is now bigger and has more capacity than google's. In fact, it could and does fit all of google's data centers in it!

    3. Re:Google data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The servers will be all PS3s.

    4. Re:Google data center by swillden · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'd be willing to bet that most of the server admins at Google have no idea how many servers they have.

      (Googler here) You'd be wrong, actually. Google is a very numbers-oriented place; I can see the totals, including CPU, disk, RAM, etc. The numbers are... large.

      I wish Iran all the best with their endeavor, but I'm skeptical.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    5. Re:Google data center by OolimPhon · · Score: 1

      I call shenanigans! I actually still have a 1 Gig SCSI drive from 1990 and it is only 1U in height!

    6. Re:Google data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Imbecile, you're not supposed to talk about that!

      --

      Brandon Downey, security expert.

  27. it's thetans, all the way down... by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    No, really, there were golden tablets! Given to me by an angel! You need a special magic stone to read them. The angel gave me one of those, too. Oh, well, I can't show them to you now, they, er, seem to have disappeared. I mean, only I can see them.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  28. The main difference will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in this one, the Earth will be flat.

  29. Apple Maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Looks like Apple found a buyer for it's map app after all.

  30. Real reason is probably the firewall by lamber45 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Right now, GMail, YouTube and Maps are all mixed together (not necessarily 100%, probably possible to do IP filtering, but Google may be moving away from that) ... take maps away and it's easier to block the other two.

  31. Sir Tim nailed it by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 2

    "What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web. . . . Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring."
      -- Sir Tim Berners-Lee, "US backing for two-tier internet" in BBC News (7 September 2007)

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  32. Pictures taken from low globe orbit. by mephox · · Score: 2

    I wonder if their Photoshop skills are up to the task. And what about their satellite? Will they just have a camera in a dark room occasionally use the flash take a picture of a spinning globe? Because that would be awesome. I suppose occasionally, you will be able to see the hand of God reaching out to give the globe a spin.

  33. What will it look like? by gargleblast · · Score: 1

    What will it look like? A little like the famous View From New York, but with a few substitutions e.g. Tehran in the foreground, Mashhad in place of Chicago, Mecca instead of Las Vegas, and Jerusalem standing in for Los Angeles.

  34. French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by billstewart · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Leave aside that the US would still be a British colony if the French hadn't supported the revolutionaries as part of their war with Britain.

    The reason we've had the "France surrenders" and "Freedom Fries" memes spread around by the US press since 2002 or so is that France didn't support Bush's war on Iraq, and the Bush League didn't want people comparing the Iraqi resistance to the WW II French Resistance, who were total badasses defending their country against invaders. Bush's propaganda push was that after the US beat Saddam, any Iraqis who didn't hail us as liberators were terrorists who deserve to be stomped into the ground because they hated our freedom.

    Oh, yeah, the French Foreign Legion? They were colonialists who were generally on the side of evil, but they were also badasses.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did the WWII French Resistance strike at the Nazis while hiding behind women & children for protection? I doubt it because they knew it would be a death sentence for those individuals. Iraq turned around when enough of their people figured out that the "resistance" was directly killing a lot more Iraqis than they ever killed Americans, became fed up with the Al Qaeda outsiders and their bullshit.

      The French opposition to the Iraq war was largely driven by the existing contracts that they had with Saddam's regime for the "oil for food" scam and other related things.

      BTW, you forgot to mention the French blowing up a Greenpeace ship. They should do more of that, especially with the Sea Shepherd fuckwits.

    2. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by russotto · · Score: 2

      The reason we've had the "France surrenders" and "Freedom Fries" memes spread around by the US press since 2002 or so is that France didn't support Bush's war on Iraq

      Nonsense; we've been sneering at the French (and they sneering right back) since at least WWII. "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" goes back to 1995.

    3. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by the+gnat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      WW II French Resistance, who were total badasses defending their country against invaders

      And a tiny fraction of the French population, much of which instead spent the war handing over their Jews to the Nazis, especially the (100% French) right-wing Vichy regime. Compare this to the Danes, who also pre-emptively surrendered and were generally nonviolent during their occupation - unlike France, they were not a military/industrial empire and would have been overrun no matter what - but helped nearly their entire Jewish population escape to Sweden and refused to cooperate with the Germans. After the war, France was treated as a "winner" in part because of the political smarts of de Gaulle, and in part to make them feel better and secure their cooperation against the Soviet Union, but in fact the war was won almost entirely by the US, UK (and affiliated nations), and USSR.

      The "France surrenders" meme was around long before the run-up to the Iraq war, which is part of why it caught on so quickly (it didn't hurt that a large fraction of Americans are credulous morons happy to believe anything bad about everyone who opposed Bush's lunacy). WWII wasn't the last time France was completely embarrassed; the battle of Dien Bien Phu was another low point.

    4. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The French were defeated, as were the British, in the early stages of the war. The British had to flee from Dunkirk with the French covering their escape. Both militiaries were in poor shape at the time, underfunded, undermanned and with old and unreliable equipment. If Hitler had started an invasion of Britain immediately he would probably have won, but instead he made a huge error in starting an air war that there was little prospect of winning from the start.

      That's why I don't really get the "surrender monkey" meme. The British were just as badly beaten and would have been forced to surrender too if push came to shove. Do people really believe all that stuff about never surrendering? It was a fantastic speech but surely people understand that no country ever fights to the very last man.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Handed them off to Sweden... who supplied the Nazi regime with the gas used to kill them.

    6. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Hitler had started an invasion of Britain immediately he would probably have won

      It's a bit difficult to cross the Channel without boats and it's not much easier to invade Britain without crossing it.

      Royal Navy would probably also have had something to say about the invasion.

    7. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh pish. The British army got it's ass handed to it but the Royal Navy was more than Germany could handle, any attempt to invade Britain would have ended with a sea full of drowned Nazis.

    8. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why I don't really get the "surrender monkey" meme. The British were just as badly beaten and would have been forced to surrender too if push came to shove.

      One word: Churchill.

    9. Re:French Resistance vs. Iraqi Resistance memes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Despite "The Simpsons" being American, Groundskeeper Wilie is Scottish, so **of course** he has a distaste for the French.

  35. Sunni vs Shia, but also Persian vs Arab, Turk by billstewart · · Score: 2

    Iran's propaganda issues aren't just about Shia vs. Sunni or Muslim vs. The Great Satan America and The Previous Great Satan England, but also about Persians vs. Arabs, Turks, and other Muslims. Persians have been in the Empire business for more than a millennium before Islam.

    Also, the Persians had the benefit of Greek culture after Alexander the Great invaded them, and probably well before, and the Greeks not only knew that the world was spherical, but had a pretty good estimate of its size.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:Sunni vs Shia, but also Persian vs Arab, Turk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Iran has nothing to do with pre-Islamic Persia

    2. Re:Sunni vs Shia, but also Persian vs Arab, Turk by billstewart · · Score: 1

      You must not know a lot of Persians who are proud of their long cultural history or have issues with neighboring cultures.

      --

      Bill Stewart
      New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  36. Axis of weed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Iraq, North Korea and Iran are obviously the triangle of whoaaaa..... dude.....

  37. what he meant by an Islamic 3D map. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    explosions. lots of explosions.

  38. Just a matter of time.. by h8sg8s · · Score: 1

    Add the new Iranian time machine announced today (really, see http://gizmodo.com/5994334/oh-yes-an-iranian-scientist-has-invented-a-time-machine-so-he-says) and you can get very close to omniscience, if not omnipotence. Add to that their new jet 'stealth fighter' and it's not hard to see someone is just thinking shit up to impress Crazy Pants and keep the ministry of weird shit busy.

    --
    Organization? You must be joking..
  39. Every entry is either by gelfling · · Score: 1, Informative

    Kill the fucking Jews

    or

    Rape your daughter then kill her.

    1. Re:Every entry is either by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      Kill the fucking Jews

      or

      Rape your daughter then kill her.

      Very true

  40. Lesson from Arab Spring? by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

    I read an article a long time ago on how some Internet tools were changing things, but not the tools that you'd think. It was about Tripod and Google Earth. Tripod was taken over as the tool of the Underground. Google Earth had people in Arab countries (yeah, I know Iran's not Arabic, just read the article) question how their land policies favored the very few connected and screwed everyone else. One of the countries explicitly mentioned? Tunisia. I thought about that a lot during the Arab Spring.

    So, even Google Earth is political. Remember when the Indians and Pakistanis were pissed at Microsoft on a few pixels that showed Kashmir belonging ever more slightly one than the other? This is much bigger.

    1. Re:Lesson from Arab Spring? by bkmoore · · Score: 1

      They (the Ayatollahs) don't want regular Iranians to see how they are living behind closed off walls. That's the real lesson from Google Earth and the Arab spring. They'll probably replace all their weapons factories and Revolutionary Guard bases with baby milk factories, kindergartens, and hospitals for good measure too.

  41. Holy Bit Batman! by nanospook · · Score: 1

    The Ayatollah Khomeini has dictated that our Islamic 3d map will be holy and use a 9 bit architecture!

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
  42. god, what god. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do these guys know there is no god? Must be difficult to run a country based on belief in fairy tales instead of............... reality.

  43. this is all Google's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    for naming the Persian gulf in to the Arabian gulf, with out any precedence.

  44. Why not use Google Maps? by Askmum · · Score: 1

    They must be so stupid. Coverage of Google Maps for western countries (US, Europe) is far better than for middle-eastern countries. If anyhting, Google is enabling Iran to select the best places to invade and attac. Even services that supply detailed aireal photo's have better coverage in the west than in the middle-east.
    Mindless rhetoric from a mindless government. And then they want to spend their valuable resources mapping their countries even better? Looks like a loose-loose situation to me.

  45. target & point based system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    same as good earth but with potential targets highlighted?

  46. The first hijab-covered satellite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guess I'll create a gigantic star of David in the back forty.
    You can put them on your roof.

  47. In the words of Richard Dawkins by wanfuse123 · · Score: 1

    “Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.” Richard Dawkins That just about sums up the probability anything will come to this.http://rawcell.com

  48. Apple by Azure+Flash · · Score: 1

    Was that what Apple did in iOS 6?

  49. Re:I WISH God would create a PKI... by Beeftopia · · Score: 1

    So they're telling me I've gotta proofread the title of the post too?

  50. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wouldn't it be showing the same planet?

  51. I knew I should've avoided checking the comments by khartoum · · Score: 1

    but I guess I am some sort of masochist. Holy shit the ignorant "jokes" that are displayed here. Get some learning and perspective about the world, people. A government is not its people, as you can so clearly see in America. Keep in mind that Iran is one of the more modernized and science-investing nations in the region, so the boneheaded camel 'n' burka jokes are incredibly misplaced. I'm also willing to bet there are a lot more Iranians (home or abroad) in IT and tech who read this site than many of you would think.

  52. I hope they are successful by w41k480u7 · · Score: 1

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Space_Agency Environment 1, a joint research satellite of Iran, China and Thailand was launched on a Chinese Long March 2C carrier rocket on September 6, 2008, aimed at boosting cooperation on natural disasters such as flooding, drought, typhoon, landslide and earthquake. The twin Earth observation satellites of eight planned were launched from Taiyuan SLC. The satellites will work as a constellation with six other satellites yet to be launched. Its observational footprint is 720 km. With a lifespan of more than three years, they have state-of-the-art imaging systems and infrared cameras and provide a global scan every two days. Iran had shouldered $6.5 million dollars out of the $44 million dollars of the total project cost.[29][30] Well maybe they have the sensing capacity. I for one hope it is successful. They would be supplying hard facts and data the more sources we have the harder censorship and manipulation is.