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ABC News
ABC News
National
By George Roberts

Google Maps asked to stop users 'walking' on Uluru through street view function

Visitors are banned from walking on top of the rock which has spiritual significance for Uluru's traditional owners.

Parks Australia has asked Google to remove images of the top of the sacred Indigenous site, Uluru, which allow users to walk on its summit.

Traditional owners have banned visitors from the top of the rock, which has spiritual significance to Anangu, Uluru's traditional owners.

Google Maps' street view function allows people to move around environments as part of a virtual walking tour.

It contains 360-degree images of the summit of Uluru, allowing users to effectively defy the visitors' ban.

A spokesperson for Parks Australia said it had, "alerted Google Australia to the user-generated images from the Uluru summit that have been posted on their mapping platform".

Parks had "requested that the content be immediately removed in accordance with the wishes of Anangu, Uluru's traditional owners, and the national park's Film and Photography Guidelines".

Google Australia told the ABC that it was working on having all the images removed, including the user-generated content that allowed the walk-through.

But it added that the changes may take up to 24 hours to come into effect.

"We understand Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is deeply sacred to the Anangu people," a Google Australia spokesperson said.

"As soon as Parks Australia raised their concerns about this user contribution, we removed the imagery."

Parks Australia stopped visitors climbing Uluru in October 2019.

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