• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.188-201
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• 2008

With recent rapid globalization, accurate information for the foreign countries is increasingly important. Errors based on inaccurate information and unequal international relationships complicate the situations. In this article, authors analyzed the Japanese place names which appear on the Google Earth images and place name database of the NGA. Google Earth already becomes a tremendous soft power in internet society; therefore, accurate information on the satellite image is more necessary than ever. This article finds that many types of errors exist in the place names in Google Earth image service. Also many place names are listed with Japanese pronunciation in GNS database as variants. The Japanese place names have not been used in topographic maps published since 1910s and 1930s. Japanese place names were widely used in US military maps published in 1946. 1:250,000 maps published in 1954, however, doesn't seem to use Japanese pronunciation any more.