Pre-Katrina images draw fire to Google

Google Inc.’s replacement of post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery on its map portal with images of the region before the storm does a “great injustice” to the storm’s victims, a congressional subcommittee said.

The House Committee on Science and Technology’s subcommittee on investigations and oversight Friday asked Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company was using the outdated imagery.

The subcommittee cited an Associated Press report on the images.

“Google’s use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history,” subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller (D-N.C.) wrote in a letter to Schmidt.

Swapping the post-Katrina images and the ruin they revealed for others showing an idyllic city dumbfounded many locals and even sparked suspicions that the company and civic leaders were conspiring to portray the area’s recovery as progressing better than it is.

Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, said the company had received the letter but had no immediate response.

After Katrina, Google’s satellite images were in high demand among exiles and hurricane victims who were anxious to see the condition of their homes.

Now, though, a virtual trip through New Orleans is a surreal experience of scrolling across a landscape of packed parking lots and boat-filled marinas.

The reality, of course, is very different. Entire neighborhoods are now slab mosaics where houses once stood. Shopping malls, churches and marinas are empty of life, many gone altogether.

John Hanke, Google’s director for maps and satellite imagery, said, “A combination of factors including imagery date, resolution and clarity” go into deciding what imagery to provide.

“The latest update from one of our information providers substantially improved the imagery detail of the New Orleans area,” Hanke said in a news release about the switch.

Kovacs said efforts were underway to use more current imagery.

It was not clear when the current images replaced views of the city that were taken after Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, flooding about 80% of New Orleans.

Miller asked Google to brief his staff by Friday on who made the decision to replace the imagery and to disclose whether Google had been contacted by the city, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey or any other government entity about changing the imagery.

“To use older, pre-Katrina imagery when more recent images are available without some explanation as to why appears to be fundamentally dishonest,” Miller said.

Edith Holleman, staff counsel for the House panel, said it would be useful to understand how Google acquires and manages its imagery because “people see Google and other Internet engines and it’s almost like the official word.”

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google does provide imagery of New Orleans and the region after Katrina through its Google Earth service.