Phu Tho Province's administrative boundaries after mergers updated on Google Maps (Photo: Manh Hung).
On March 18, users in Vietnam reported noticeable changes to administrative borders on both the web and mobile versions of Google Maps. After a prolonged period using outdated data, Google has started reflecting newly merged provinces and cities.
For example, searching for Phu Tho Province now shows an expanded boundary covering the former territories of Phu Tho, Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc.
In southern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City has also been significantly updated, incorporating the former administrative areas of Binh Duong and Ba Ria Vung Tau into its new boundaries.
The updates follow Vietnam’s administrative reform plan, which reduced the number of provinces and centrally governed cities from 63 to 34, and cut commune level units from 10,035 to 3,321.
However, updates are currently only partially implemented. Detailed boundary data at district and commune levels have yet to be fully synchronised, and some changes are not completely reflected on the platform.
Google has not yet issued an official statement regarding the timeline for completing updates across all local administrative units in Vietnam.
