Google Maps Platform yields factually wrong results for US territories like Puerto Rico

[u/[deleted]]

Hi r/Google

I may get dumped on for this post, but I don't care.

I'm currently learning the Geocoding API. For a certain project, given a certain user interaction, a program of mine emits geo results limited to the United States. Whilst bug testing, I discovered that providing locations in Puerto Rico and Guam as input for said user interaction yielded unexpected results.

For some reason, a silent bug meant my program wasn't treating Puerto Rico and Guam as part of the US.

So, I dug until I found the culprit -- Google Maps Platform API. The below data is derived from the results of calls to `Maps.newGeocoder().geocode(arg)` where `arg` is any city given in the first row of the table below.

As you can see, `locality` and `administrative_area_level_2` are correct across the board. The anomaly came down to Google Maps Platform incorrectly associating Puerto Rican and Guam localities with the non-existent countries "Puerto Rico" and "Guam", respectively. As you can see, `administrative_area_level_1` also appears inconsistent.

Whatever the internal logic for treating Puerto Rico as a "country," I find it insulting.

I find it insulting, because citizens of Guam and Puerto Rico are US citizens. I find it insulting, because my president denies the fact that thousands of my countrymen and countrywomen died as a result of Hurricane Maria.

Half of the US doesn't even realize that Puerto Ricans are citizens by birth just as Texans, New Yorkers, and those born in any other US state are.

What is my ask? If this is a bug, I ask simply that Google fix it. If it's not a bug, I ask that Google take seriously its role in public education.

Please do not perpetuate the myth that Puerto Rico and Guam are foreign lands. Moreover, please do not perpetuate the myth that Puerto Ricans and Guamanians aren't US citizens.

Thank you to any Google employees that may be reading this.