Iran launches ‘Islamic Google Earth’

Iran plans to launch a 3D mapping service that is accurate in terms of geographic information and is free of “Zionist” influence of Google. Iran’s Minister for Information and Communication Mohammad Hassan Nami stated that it would have a codename “Basir” which translates to “spectator” in Farsi and is ready to be launched in four months.

Nami says that Google Earth provides surface information to its users but in reality uses the service to obtain intelligence from other countries. He gave little information regarding the 3D Islamic Map in which they 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 US, England and the Zionists.”

IT specialists have serious doubts if this project would ever work; some had said that the announcement is just another excuse to obtain funding. The data management of the program requires heavy-duty equipments and serious regular maintenance which costs up to billions of dollars in which Iran’s economy can’t keep up with stated by an IT consultant who worked in Iran’s Internet Project.

The expert has also stated that the government knows their restrictions, boundaries, and capabilities and they are just looking for budget and upcoming contracts.