This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information.(December 2019) |
This is a list of satellite map images with missing or unclear data. Some locations on free, publicly viewable satellite map services have such issues due to having been intentionally digitally obscured or blurred for various reasons of this. [1] For example, Westchester County, New York asked Google to blur potential terrorism targets (such as an amusement park, a beach, and parking lots) from its satellite imagery. [2] There are cases where the censorship of certain sites was subsequently removed. For example, when Google Maps and Google Earth were launched, images of the White House and United States Capitol were blurred out; however, these sites are now uncensored. [3]
During talks with the Indian government, Google issued a statement saying "Google has been talking and will continue to talk to the Indian government about any security concerns it may have regarding Google Earth." [4] Google agreed to blur images on request of the Indian government. [1]
The Australian government has decided that images of sensitive areas are not a risk, due to poor level of detail. [5] It was reported that in the lead-up to the APEC forum in Sydney held in September 2007 certain key locations in images of the city's central business district, where APEC leaders were meeting, might have been intentionally reduced in resolution; however, Google has indicated that the change was unrelated to APEC, while the NSW police said that they knew nothing about the change in Google's images. Images of the prime minister's official residence, The Lodge have not been blurred. However, images of its roof have been and the entrance to The Lodge is blurred in Google Street View. [6]
The government of Malaysia has stated that it will not ask Google to censor sensitive areas because that would identify the locations it deemed to be sensitive. [7]
Most military and defense facilities, along with many private homes, appear blurred in mapping services. The vast majority of Antarctica is also in low resolution due to the bright, often featureless, ice and snow making high-resolution imaging both difficult and largely unnecessary. The following is a partial list of notable known map sections that have been blurred or blanked.
Location | Country | Details | Link and coordinates |
---|---|---|---|
Antarctica | Antarctica | Several large areas of Antarctica are blurred, including one over 23 km (14 mi) long. Blurring is well past the normal low-resolution for most of the continent. [8] | 70°10′40″S87°49′29″E / 70.177653°S 87.824707°E |
Location | Country | Details | Link and coordinates |
---|---|---|---|
Israel-Palestine | Israel-Palestine | The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment (KBA) was introduced in 1997 and restricted the quality of satellite images of Israel American companies were allowed to commercially publish. Images of the Palestinian territories were restricted as well despite not being explicitly referred to in the ruling. The limit was dropped in July 2020, however, as of 2024, the entire region remains blurred in Google and Apple satellite imagery.[ dubious – discuss ] This is the largest area subject to this form of restriction. [9] | 31°33′14″N35°14′46″E / 31.553782°N 35.246007°E |
North Korea [10] | North Korea | Satellite imagery is not censored, but buildings and roads are unlabeled in Google Maps. | 39°32′47″N126°47′16″E / 39.546412°N 126.78772°E |
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2023) |
Location | Country | Details | Link and coordinates |
---|---|---|---|
2207 Seymour Avenue | America | Site of the Ariel Castro kidnappings, demolished. | 41°28'21.1"N 81°41'52.8"W |
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2023) |
Location | Country | Details | Link and coordinates |
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A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting, or geostationary.
The Blue Marble is a photograph of Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by either Ron Evans or Harrison Schmitt aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the Moon. Viewed from around 29,400 km (18,300 mi) from Earth's surface, a cropped and rotated version has become one of the most reproduced images in history.
SPOT is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth imaging satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES in the 1970s and was developed in association with the SSTC and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). It has been designed to improve the knowledge and management of the Earth by exploring the Earth's resources, detecting and forecasting phenomena involving climatology and oceanography, and monitoring human activities and natural phenomena. The SPOT system includes a series of satellites and ground control resources for satellite control and programming, image production, and distribution. Earlier satellites were launched using the European Space Agency's Ariane 2, 3, and 4 rockets, while SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 were launched by the Indian PSLV.
Satellite images are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell images by licensing them to governments and businesses such as Apple Maps and Google Maps.
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bike, air and public transportation. As of 2020, Google Maps was being used by over one billion people every month around the world.
Cartosat-1 is a stereoscopic Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit, and the first one of the Cartosat series of satellites. The eleventh satellite of ISRO in Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series. The satellite was launched by Indian Space Research Organisation and is operated by NTRO. Weighing around 1560 kg at launch, its applications will mainly be towards cartography in India.
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse. The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate. Users may use the program to add their own data using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is able to show various kinds of images overlaid on the surface of the Earth and is also a Web Map Service client. In 2019, Google revealed that Google Earth now covers more than 97 percent of the world, and has captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery.
A virtual globe is a three-dimensional (3D) software model or representation of Earth or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and position. Compared to a conventional globe, virtual globes have the additional capability of representing many different views of the surface of Earth. These views may be of geographical features, man-made features such as roads and buildings, or abstract representations of demographic quantities such as population.
Géoportail is a comprehensive web mapping service of the French government that publishes maps and geophysical aerial photographs from more than 90 sources for France and its territories. The service, first developed by two public agencies, was officially inaugurated on 23 June 2006 by president Jacques Chirac.
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include all of the country's major and minor cities, as well as the cities and rural areas of many other countries worldwide. Streets with Street View imagery available are shown as clickable blue lines on Google Maps.
Cartographic censorship is the deliberate modification of publicly available maps in order to disguise, remove, or obfuscate potentially strategic locations or buildings, such as military bases, power plants or transmitters. Sensitive objects and places have been removed from maps since historic times, sometimes as a disinformation tactic in times of war, and also to serve competitive political and economic interests, such as during the Age of Discovery when strategic geographic information was highly sought after. In modern times requests for censorship are sent to Google Earth for certain sites that are deemed to pose security risks for national governments.
ImageAmerica Aviation, Inc. is an aerial photography company that was acquired by Google in July 2007. The company specialized in creating aerial photos with "accuracy, quick delivery and low cost". It previously sold its services primarily to city, county, state, and federal governments and to corporate customers. ImageAmerica also made money by selling low-cost imagery to county appraisers and assessors. The company's clients include the Texas Department of Transportation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Lucas County office that covers Toledo, Ohio. For satellite imaging, the company charges US$99 per 1 square mile (2.6 km2), compared to other companies which could charge from $500 to $700 and for a lower quality than what ImageAmerica offers. It also developed its own DDP-2 camera system. The system is housed in an aircraft. It has the ability to capture details as small as 6 inches (150 mm) to 12 inches (300 mm). ImageAmerica's patented processing system has the ability to produce orthorectified imagery corrected for perspective distortions. The company's technology also uses sensors which are based on a unique design from Sarnoff Research Labs in Princeton, New Jersey.
EnMAP is a German hyperspectral satellite mission to provide high accuracy hyperspectral image data of the Earth surface on a timely and frequent basis.
Bhuvan is an Indian web-based utility which allows users to explore a set of geographic content prepared by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The content which the utility serves is mostly restricted to within Indian boundaries and is offered in four regional languages. The content includes thematic maps related to disasters, agriculture, water resources, land cover, and processed satellite data generated by ISRO.
Move
Privacy advocates have objected to the Google Street View feature, pointing to photographs that show people leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, people picking up prostitutes, and people engaging in activities visible from public property which they do not wish to be photographed and have published online. Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. However, this does not take into account that the Street View cameras take pictures from an elevated position, enabling them to look over hedges and walls designed to prevent some areas from being open to public view. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and additionally allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial. Google changed its policy to make removal more straightforward, but has since removed the option to request removal of an image, replacing it by an option to request blurring of an image. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
SkySat is a constellation of sub-meter resolution Earth observation satellites owned by Planet Labs, providing imagery, high-definition video and analytics services. Planet acquired the satellites with their purchase of Terra Bella, a Mountain View, California-based company founded in 2009 by Dan Berkenstock, Julian Mann, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu, from Google in 2017.
The Kyl–Bingaman Amendment is a United States law. It was put into force by the Military Defense National Defense Authorization Act for 1997.
Cartosat-2F is the eighth satellite in the Cartosat-2 Series. It is an Earth observation satellite launched on the PSLV-C40 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
RISAT-2B, or Radar Imaging Satellite-2B is an Indian radar reconnaissance satellite that is part of India's RISAT programme and the third satellite in the series. It is built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to replace RISAT-2.
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