Google and Jakarta
2008/03/24 filed under /random_thoughtsJakarta, the capital city of Indonesia has seen some name changes over the years. I trust Wikipedia on the dates here, but in history, the names have been Sunda Kalapa (397-1527), Jayakarta (1527-1619), Batavia (1619-1942), Djakarta (1942-1972), and now Jakarta.
Dropping the 'd' in front of the name has to do with the new spelling of the Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia). Again, I trust Wikipedia on the dates and history, but since 1972, the "new spelling" mandated that the 'd' was dropped.
So far so good, but recently I noticed that Google has trouble keeping up with this new spelling. On maps.google.com, they tell me the city is called "Djakarta", as you can see here:
Oddly enough, they do write Jayapura correctly. Also Bandung, instead of Bandoeng (which changed in 1947) is written correctly. Other mapping websites all seem to handle the 36 year old name change correctly.
Expedia.com:
Maps.live.com:
Mapquest.com:
NationalGeographic.com:
UN.org:
Maps.yahoo.com:
Since I find this a strange error, I decided to write an email to Google asking them for the reason for this and whether there are plans to update this. I'll keep you posted on the results of that mail (if ever get a reply).
