Google has now officially updated its Maps to include the Black Lives Matter mural found on what was previously a segment of 16th Street adjacent to the White House in Washington D.C. reports indicate.
For clarity, the mural in question was painted on the street during widespread public protests following the death of George Floyd. More directly, the project, undertaken by the Department of Public Works, saw the words “Black Lives Mattery” painted in place. They were painted directly to the street surface in bold, all-caps lettering.
The mural later prompted officials to rechristen the two-block span of the street it covers. That section of the road is now officially renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
Now, that mural is visible for all Google Maps users, following a decision by Google to update the imagery for the area. The up-to-date view is accessible in the Satellite ‘Map Type’ under the square-shaped ‘view’ icon at the top-right-hand side of the application’s UI.
Conversely, that can also be found under the Satellite button at the bottom-left-hand side of the Maps web UI.
In that view, the mural is shown as it naturally looks from an overhead view. Google also updated a swath of the surrounding area, leading to a more natural look for the plaza’s message. Of course, the copyright information associated with that change has been updated too.
Google was a little slow on the uptake with regard to adding the Black Lives Matter mural
The decision to include the new street name for Black Lives Matter Plaza in Google Maps was made within days. In fact, it happened just two days after the street was renamed, on June 5. Google updated the naming used within the mapping application by June 8, just a day short of a week ago.
But the company was a bit slower than others with regard to adding the mural to representative images. Apple, for instance, added the mural and renamed the street almost immediately after the new designation was official. That other company also used a much less natural-looking photoshopped crop of the mural. Although that does make the message a bit clearer to read.
It’s not immediately clear exactly why Google lagged so far behind but at least one organization is already challenging the mural and street name itself. Summarily, the lawsuit is calling for the removal of the mural. And it’s asking for a more “secular” street name. The suit, arguably due to a woeful misunderstanding of the US constitution, cites First Amendment protections and the ‘separation of church and state’.
So it may be the case that Google was holding off to see if the mural would remain up. Or if the street name would face plausible and legitimate legal challenges before moving forward.
The search giant has put a more inclusive foot forward elsewhere
Google has, in the interim, chosen to put a more inclusivity and support-focused foot forward in other areas of its business. The search giant started by offering up free and heavily-discounted movies on Google Play Movies explicitly in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It also accelerated and ramped up efforts behind the scenes, in the code for both Android and Chrome. The end-goal for that decision is to remove all instances of the terms “whitelist” and “blacklist” from the code. The company had already removed those terms from user-facing elements.