The latest information from the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre shows that residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea are facing serious problems with navigation services. This is especially true for Google Maps, which often takes users to the wrong places, gets confused and gives incorrect routes.
‘Navigation in Crimea now works very badly. If you lay out a route, the navigator often leads to a completely different place, or it goes astray altogether,’ local residents report.
This problem causes considerable difficulties, especially for those who use the services for everyday travelling or for tourist purposes. The reasons for these failures are not yet fully understood, but it is another challenge faced by people in the occupied territories.
Deterioration of navigation may be due to technological limitations or disruptions in communication infrastructure. Under the occupation of Crimea, many global services face technical difficulties or deliberate access restrictions, which only worsens the quality of life of local residents. Against the backdrop of Crimea’s general isolation from global technologies, these problems can only get worse.