On Wednesday, the National Geographic Society announced that they would be altering the global map to include Crimea in the map of Russia after Crimea’s secession from Ukraine is legally finalized. On Tuesday, National Geographic editorial leadership, led by geographer Juan Jose Valdes, determined that maps used by the organization must show “the world as it is, not as people would like it to be…As you can only surmise, sometimes our maps are not received in a positive light by some individuals who want to see the world in a different light.”
Valdes said, “the document will be revised to indicate that the change has officially occurred and Crimea is officially part of Russia, then we will identify Crimea with the Russian boundary tint.”
After Russian Duma ratifies the treaty signed between Crimea and Russia, National Geographic will paint Russia the same color as Crimea; for the moment, the territory will be indicated as a disputed territory like the Judea and Samaria regions of Israel.
Rand McNally stated that it would continue to depict Crimea as part of Ukraine, following the lead of the State Department. Wikipedia has moved back and forth depending on user entries.