Nicaragua, Costa Rica in Google Maps Battle

Nicaragua and Costa Rica Lobby Google over Border

"Nicaragua Invades Costa Rica, Blames Google Maps" is how this story is being widely reported, but the truth is a bit more complicated. 

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El caso del Rio San Juan, la frontera y el dragado (parte I)

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There is a disputed region along the San Juan River between Nicaragua and Costa Rica: both countries claim to own it. Google Maps places the region inside Nicaragua, which the Nicaraguan military used to justify a river cleanup mission. That mission also included the setup of several military camps. 

So, Nicaragua did not inadvertently incur into Costa Rica, but used the Google Maps border placement as its excuse.

However, unaddressed was why a nation's military is using Google Maps for anything at all. Note that Google's map of the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border differs from both nations' official maps. Bing, however, matches the official cartography.

The original report:

("It's a Google error, and we sent a message asking for the map to be fixed," said Costa Rican deputy foreign minister Carlos Roverssi last night)