Dink Software

Should the following countries be included or excluded from Geography trainer as recognized countries:
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Kosovo
Palestine
Israel

I am in favor of listing all as countries as they all are recognized by a large number of nation states. Disputed such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Northern Cyprus which are recognized by only 1 or 2 other nation states will not be included.

South Korea and North Korea are both included.

What is everyone's thoughts on this? Any other countries that you think are disputed and may need to be removed or any additional ones that may need to be added?

One you have missed, is the western Sahara, disputed by Morrocco and Algeria.

I think I understand where you are coming from. I imagine, you are trying to strike a balance, between accuracy, and ensuring that you don't inadvertantly offend minority groups, especially those that already feel un-served by the international community.

I have encountered this problem in my professional life. My solution, was to go to blame someone else. In particular, I used the UN cartographic service, and clearly cited them on all documents. For example, here is the Western Sahara, as per the United Nations...
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/africa.pdf

Big Wheel wrote:My solution, was to go to blame someone else. In particular, I used the UN cartographic service, and clearly cited them on all documents. For example, here is the Western Sahara, as per the United Nations...
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/africa.pdf

I like it

In the bottom right hand corner of that map, doesn't it basically say the UN does not officially endorse or accept them?

Western Sahara is currently in Version 1.3. However after reading up a bit more on its legal status and recognition, I think it will be removed from Version 1.4.

Dink wrote:In the bottom right hand corner of that map, doesn't it basically say the UN does not officially endorse or accept them?

Touche! Yes, it does. I can assure you it didn't say that when I used their service, but I paid for that. Perhaps you don't get the same level of commitment from a free map, which is what I linked for you. Sorry, my example is up in smoke, but I stand behing the principle of finding a patsy.