What happened to the Artic or north pole on the maps? Look it up on Google map and youll see..hmm?

Question

My wife noticed awhile back that most maps now a days dont show the North Pole but they show the South Pole......does anyone know why? i know it might be an ignorant question but I guess that is why I am asking.......Look it up on Google maps and you will see what I mean.......just want to show my kids where Santa lives too

I am not looking for parenting advice. Just a reasonable answer to nagging question.

Answer 1

It might be because the North Pole is not dry land, but only ice covered ocean. I really can't answer for Google Maps (it is there but is only a graphic representation of the seafloor). It also appears in Google Earth as a point in the Arctic Ocean, labeled as North Magnetic Pole, Nunavut, Canada.

At present the North Pole is under darkness and will not have daylight again until next spring.

Here is a NOAA website with webcam images of the North Pole and the most recent is from September 25, 2007:
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html

Probably the best image you can find is from NASA at:
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=1292
The high resolution image is rather spectacular.

There is a town called North Pole in Alaska that you can find on Google, Terraserver, etc. (Of course it's pretty far south of the real North Pole)
See:
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=17&Z=6&X=18&Y=280&W=3&qs=%7cnorth+pole%7c%7c
or
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=North+Pole,+AK,+United+States+of+America&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

Answer 2

I always look up travel directions to any new place I go. Sometimes Yahoo Maps gives good ones, sometimes it doesn't. I like looking up remote places along the Gulf Coast in an attempt to see if they have eroded into the water yet. The shoreline is always changing.

Answer 3

Perhaps a lack of satellite imagery?

Don't lie to your kids about Santa. When my parents told me I was more upset my parents had lied to me that the fact Santa didn't exist.