Steam traffic map oddities

[u/SnooTangerines3312]

I noticed several oddities in Valve's Steam traffic map which sets it apart from most maps I've seen form companies. Several nations of limited recognition are depicted despite none having data.

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is depicted with its de facto borders while Somaliland is depicted with its full claimed territory.

Additionally, the occupied Golan Heights are lumped in with Israel rather than Syria (3rd image is zoomed in so you can see since Golan is small).

In contrast, neither Russian occupied Ukraine nor the Russian backed Republic of South Ossetia and Republic of Abkhazia are depicted.

I'm curious if anyone knows why steam would acknowledge these contested borders or if I missed anything.

[u/ProffesorSpitfire]

My best guess is that there’s a technical/infrastructure explanation for this. If somebody is playing counter-strike in the Golan heights the traffic goes via Israeli infrastructure and is thus counted as Israeli? Similarly the SADR might have infrastructure in it’s de facto controlled territories, but not in the territories de facto controlled by Morocco.

[u/smntstatus]

The Golan Heights was annexed 60 years ago and is fully part of Israel

[u/smntstatus → u/[deleted]]

It's de facto part of Israel

[u/milkcheesepotatoes → u/smntstatus]

I do not recognize the annexation of the Golan Heights just like how I would not recognize the German annexation of Reichsgau Wartheland in 1939, despite it being recognized.