Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Antarctica isn’t shown for the same reason the bottom of the ocean or the surface of the moon aren’t shown: there are no countries there.

Adding cells that don’t correspond to a country (like your proposed white circle) would make the map less accurate.




Then you get onto the definition of what a country is - there are many countries claiming land in Antarctica.


Indeed, but those claims don’t really reflect any on-the-ground reality, and the majority of countries don’t recognize them.


There are many disputed territories shown - Palestine (especially the bit bordering Jordan, which bares no relation to the facts on the ground), or Taiwan which is shown when only a dozen countries recognise it. Northern Cyprus which is defacto a different state to Mainland Cyprus isn't shown, but the UK military bases are shown. Gibraltar is erroneously shown as part of the UK, but the Falklands aren't shown at all -- nor are many other island territories. Hong Kong and Macau aren't shown as separate to China.

It's difficult to know what the definition for inclusivity is.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: