BAGHDAD, Iraq — Residents of Baghdad have co-opted Google Earth as an everyday tool to survive the city’s civil war.

The global mapping program allows Baghdad residents to plot routes around trouble spots, choose variations on their route to work, plan an escape in case of attack, or even target areas inhabited by members of rival religious groups.

The lack of paper maps — which were banned under Saddam Hussein — makes Google Earth all the more valuable to Iraqis. Official paranoia over invasion and terrorist attacks made ownership of detailed maps of Baghdad a capital offense under the dictatorship.

Hussein Ama, 22, plots his way from his home to Baghdad University each morning using an adapted Arabic language version of Google Earth program available on CD. The ever-shifting threat of violence and kidnapping means that he never travels the same road on three consecutive days. “If there are reports of fighting or the road is closed because of the security operations, I consult Google Earth to try to find a new way,” he said.

“As I am a Shia, I have to avoid roads with Sunni mosques. If there is a checkpoint outside, it is likely that I would be kidnapped and my throat would be cut.”

Taxi driver Mohammad Sami was forced into his trade by a lack of opportunities. With no need to master the Baghdad ‘knowledge,’ he has other considerations when consulting online maps: “I use the maps to find the connecting roads. If I am stuck in a traffic jam and there is trouble, I know how to get away.”

Google Earth is also emerging as the only way to see much of the city, which is off limits because of security threats. Many sensitive buildings and streets are hidden behind blast barriers.

Some Baghdadis use the Internet program to see over the walls. Bashar Mohammad said, “I use Google Earth to go out and see my city. I cannot see the places like the Green Zone any other way because it is not safe. But I am curious.”

But some residents have more malevolent purposes. Salim al-Saidi, 23, is a neighborhood computer expert for the Madhi militia, a sectarian force responsible for forcing Sunni families out of several Baghdad districts.

Using Google Earth’s global positioning points meter, he calculated that the Sunni village of Al-Girthana was three miles from a mortar-launching site. “We could not figure it out by going there and measuring the distance using the car or the phone. We would be killed if we entered the village. Since we found out, we fired mortars and three or four rockets at the village each day.”

Last month, the Daily Telegraph reported that insurgents in Basra were using Google Earth to target British bases, forcing the program’s designers to “blot out” the installations.

Civil war fighting has changed how the value of life is seen. A resident who has a heart attack at night will often be allowed to die by relatives because it is too dangerous to drive to hospital.

The main sects control Baghdad’s two main mortuaries. If a body ends up in the ‘wrong’ one, it will be collected by a mother or a sister to minimize the risk of another family member being kidnapped or killed.