Comments on: Boston Unblurred: Debunking the Google Maps Censorship Myth

By: ted

ted — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:47:20 +0000

Google Earth resolution has been reduced or maybe unknowen to me, I changed some settings. Why do I think so? When I zoom down on my house, I DO NOT have the same clarity I did last year (Dec, 2008). I could obtain close to accurate distance measurements, but now there is more guessing as to start and end points. If YOU start G.E. and zoom in to the initial center start point (Regency Pl. Lawrence, KS.)the resolution is not as good as it was last year. It is possible I changed a setting. Of course if everyone begins to think their images are a little more blurry, maybe Google changed something.

By: tad

tad — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:11:24 +0000

Apparently damn near every bridge north of Manhattan is a super-secret terrorist target. Like places north of the train station in Ossining.

The author doesn’t appear to have done much research, as I keep stumbling upon blurred places in Google Maps as I am house hunting.

MS Live Earth, on the other hand, works great!

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:34:19 +0000

I’d like to second Michael’s comment above. Not only was MIT obscured but the AF Electronic Systems Command was as well on Hanscom AFB. Odd though that the AF Research Lab on the same base was not… It’s nice to see all the pixels in place now.

By: tim

tim — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:58:32 +0000

Seabrook used to be pixilated, it looks like google maps got updated. Who would have thought.

By: Neo

Neo — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:33:06 +0000

I guess criminals are just going to have to use Windows Live Maps instead… http://maps.live.com/?v=2&where1=52.248722%2C%204.43965&encType=1 see also… http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=51.952386~4.842567&style=h&lvl=15&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=12276425&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=52.248722%2C%204.43965&encType=1

By: Debunking the Google Earth Censorship Myth | Kaizenlog

Debunking the Google Earth Censorship Myth | Kaizenlog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:24:32 +0000

[...] replace #AT# with @ ] 1. http://www.itsecurity.com/features/51-things-not-on-google-maps-071508/ 2. http://www.xconomy.com/national/2008/09/26/boston-unblurred-debunking-the-google-maps-censorship-myt... Popularity: 1% [?] Listen to this podcast ARTICLEURL Print This [...]

By: ah

ah — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:18:16 +0000

This town must have been melted into cool mosaic by the sun one day.

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=52.248722,4.43965&ie=UTF8&ll=52.248725,4.439646&spn=0.00494,0.009656&z=17&iwloc=addr

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:54:53 +0000

There is an obscure US law requiring a license to take images from space for any US based entity. It dates back before the current administration and gives licensing authority to NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration). So even if the company is private, there are some level of government control.

By: Wade Roush

Wade Roush — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:53:30 +0000

@John: Thanks, I’ve fixed the “Lowell, NH” typo.

@Pierre, @Richard, and others: Once again, what I wrote was the six Boston-area locations mentioned in the IT Security list don’t look to me like they’re obscured. There are places like the Dutch airbases that are indisputably blurred, but that was done by the organizations that sell images to Google.

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:21:03 +0000

Picture resolution aside, the reactor at UMass Lowell (#3) isn’t in New Hampshire…it in Massachusettes…it’s UMASS after all…

By: Richard Loerakker

Richard Loerakker — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:54:56 +0000

So this Google Maps location of Schoonhoven, The Netherlands is a anomality?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=nl&geocode=&q=schoonhoven&ie=UTF8&ll=51.951142,4.847116&spn=0.023276,0.052013&t=k&z=14

By: Elmer

Elmer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:50:14 +0000

Wrongo.

I am a frequent user of Google Earth and Google Maps.

The areas pointed out are definitely blurred or are reduced resolution.

From memory, the amusement park in NY, the train station somewhere in the Northeast US, are definitely two that are blurred more than the capable resolution would let you see.

By: Iain

Iain — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:06:01 +0000

Re: Enrique’s image from the Netherlands, click Zoom Out. They’ve quite clearly provided a stained-glass filter on the high-res images, but you can see more detail if you zoom out a bit on Google Maps to see the next lower resolution map layer, because that one is unfiltered.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:59:22 +0000

NEWS FLASH

Wade Roush is an idiot! Many of those locations ARE in fact reduced resolution.

See slashdot comments on this story.

Example: http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=52.109911,4.326597&ie=UTF8&ll=52.109912,4.326596&spn=0.00456,0.009549&z=17&iwloc=addr

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:03:02 +0000

“I also appreciate the necessity, given the psychos we have abroad”

Say, you’re not from the US are you?

By: Garrett

Garrett — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:56:11 +0000

I have to 2nd Michael’s comment.

I work very close to one of the Massachusetts locations and up until very recently it has been blurred out. I was pleasently surprised just last week to see that a new clear picture was posted.

It appears this author did his fact checking just a couple of weeks too late.

By: Matthias

Matthias — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:36:50 +0000

A year ago, the PAVE PAWS site had a clear, good image. Then a few months ago it was clearly blurred in a circular pattern covering the area out to the perimeter road. It has been replaced with an highly overexposed, possibly dated image — other structures in the same area don’t have the same “camera settings.”

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:15:08 +0000

While you can definitely get view from above via Google Earth/Maps and MS Live Search of the natural gas terminal in Chelsea, MA – MS Live Search disabled the “Bird’s Eye” functionality for that natural gas terminal. Its enabled everywhere around it in the area.

I imagine it would be because the bird’s eye would give much more detailed images that provide depth.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:22:53 +0000

I work at one of the sites you listed and it most definitely was obscured as of less than a month ago. It looks like Google recently replaced the imagery for a large part of the state within the last week or two (Boston included). The article was not wrong, you were just really lucky with your timing.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:32:53 +0000

In the cases of the Dutch locations (NC3A, airbases, etc), the imagery is actually provided by the Dutch goverment – and blurred by them.

Had that conversation with a Dutch co-worker while standing in Den Haag last year.