Satellite map images with missing or unclear data

^[1]

Some locations on free, publicly viewable satellite map services have missing, incomplete, or unclear map data. In some cases, these regions have been intentionally digitally obscured or blurred.^[2] Westchester County, New York, for example, has asked Google to blur potential terror targets (such as an amusement park, a beach, and parking lots) from its satellite imagery.^[3]

In some cases, censorship of certain sites has been removed. When Google Maps was launched, images of the White House and United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. were blurred out; current versions of Google Maps and Google Earth show these sites uncensored, but with out-of-date imagery.^[4]

Countries in official contact with Google Maps

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."^[5] Google agreed to blur images on request of the Indian government.^[2]

The Australian government has decided that images of sensitive areas are not a risk, due to poor level of detail.^[6] 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. It is known that images of Her Majesty's Australian Prisons are intentionally blurred out. 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

List of map locations with missing or unclear data

East / South Asia

South Korea

South Korean online map services Daum Maps and Naver Maps, as well as Bing maps, censor a substantial part of their satellite/aerial imagery. Every military used land (US and ROK) is altered to show woodland or mountains. Also the nuclear reactor sites and many airports and possibly other civilian infrastructure. The national mint is pixellated. Google Maps does not have these omissions for South Korea.

Taiwan

Rounded irregular areas overlaid with older imagery, etc.

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
24°12′22″N 120°36′26″E / 24.206117°N 120.607181°E	Taichung	Older imagery of cruise missile base overlays newer science park
25°02′42″N 121°36′12″E / 25.044976°N 121.60346°E	Nangang 202 Military Factory	Oval overlay
24°12′26″N 120°48′01″E / 24.207203°N 120.800278°E	Xinshe military reservations	Two military reservations, cut and pasted
24°09′04″N 120°44′11″E / 24.15111°N 120.736259°E	Taiping military reservations	Military reservations, cut and pasted
24°11′11″N 120°39′03″E / 24.18626°N 120.65074°E	Shuinan Airport (RCLG)	Airport, cut and pasted.
25°06′27″N 121°32′09″E / 25.107496°N 121.535756°E	National Security Bureau Headquarters	Pixelization
25°02′50″N 121°35′29″E / 25.047352°N 121.591471°E	Army Logistics Command headquarters building in Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization
25°02′23″N 121°32′23″E / 25.03986°N 121.53977°E	Republic of China Air Force facility in Daan District, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization

The above are but a few examples. Pixelization also occurs for bases like zh:成功嶺.

In addition, whole areas like downtown Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung have not been updated since 2006, due to restrictions posed by the Land Surveying and Mapping Act, etc.

Pakistan

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
27°51′0″N 65°10′0″E / 27.85000°N 65.16667°E	Shamsi Airfield[9]	Unmanned Predators. Images from 2006 were removed. Images from 2007 have runway markings removed.

Nepal

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
27°47′45″N 86°48′50″E / 27.79583°N 86.81389°E	Kangtega	Black blur near Kangtedga, 20 miles south of Mount Everest, appears to be missing satellite data.

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
41°10′22.57″N 53°42′15.47″E / 41.1729361°N 53.7042972°E	Garabogazköl	The Garabogazköl Basin is shown pixelated in Fourmilab, in all other mapping services it appears as a normal lagoon.

Europe

Denmark, Faroe Islands

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
62°6′46″N 7°15′33″W / 62.11278°N 7.25917°W	Vágar, former WWII military station	Large portions of the Vágar archipelago are extremely low resolution images.

France

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
46°42′47″N 1°14′39″E / 46.713056°N 1.244167°E	HWU transmitter	reduced resolution
21°50′00″S 138°50′00″W / 21.833333°S 138.833333°W	Moruroa	Airstrip, dock and buildings greyed out
44°8′36″N 4°42′34″E / 44.14333°N 4.70944°E	Marcoule	The Marcoule site of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique is shown in reduced resolution.
49°40′49″N 1°52′48″W / 49.68028°N 1.88000°W	AREVA La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing facility	The AREVA La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing facility is shown in reduced resolution.

Ile du Ramier, Toulouse (Link), the location of the National Organization for Powder and Explosives (preparation of phosgene for the aerospace industry and other form of explosive gas including Sulfur Mustard). The AZF chemical factory is pixelated, but Google Maps feature links to a detailed photo of the factory. Reims – Champagne Air Base.

A number of French military installations are pixelated, including the naval bases at Toulon and Brest.

Germany

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
50°57′38″N 6°2′32″E / 50.96056°N 6.04222°E	NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen	Whereas the western side of the base is severely blurred on Google Maps, a high-resolution aerial view of the base is available on Bing.
50°57′17″N 6°3′33″E / 50.95472°N 6.05917°E	NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen	A camouflage pattern covers a big area southeast of the NATO airport. A high-resolution aerial view of the area is available on Bing.
48°42′56″N 11°32′02″E / 48.71556°N 11.53389°E	Ingolstadt Manching Airport	No longer blurred on Google Maps. Entire airport blurred out on Bing Maps aerial view.

Ireland

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
53°02′16.69″N 7°17′10.72″W / 53.0379694°N 7.2863111°W	Portlaoise Maximum Security Prison	An old satellite image from 2005 is superimposed over newer images for the entire area of the prison. The prison houses convicted members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other illegal paramilitary organisations. The security features include an army detachment of the Irish Defence Forces armed with assault rifles and anti-aircraft machine guns. An air exclusion zone operates over the entire complex.

The Netherlands

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
50°56′16.85″N 5°58′45.89″E / 50.9380139°N 5.9794139°E	Joint Force Command Brunssum	Images smudged on Google maps, images blurred in Bing Maps. Marked as AFCENT on maps.
51°28′32.48″N 05°22′7.66″E / 51.4756889°N 5.3687944°E	Generaal Majoor de Ruyter van Steveninck Kazerne
51°33′06.45″N 04°56′5.56″E / 51.5517917°N 4.9348778°E	Gilze-Rijen Air Base	Pixelization
52°07′25.94″N 05°21′30.12″E / 52.1238722°N 5.3583667°E	Personeelsvereniging Tankwerkplaats	Good example of censoring. Visible on Bing.
52°14′55.40″N 04°26′22.74″E / 52.2487222°N 4.4396500°E	part of Noordwijk aan Zee	Former location of the "Defensie Pijpleiding Organisatie" offices, was not meant to be blurred.
52°16′29.38″N 06°53′38.11″E / 52.2748278°N 6.8939194°E	Twente Air Force Base
52°26′47.00″N 05°59′40.00″E / 52.4463889°N 5.9944444°E	Prinses Margriet Army Base
51°39′27.54″N 5°42′12.58″E / 51.6576500°N 5.7034944°E	Volkel Air Force Base
52°02′12.85″N 05°40′45.82″E / 52.0369028°N 5.6793944°E	Command and Control Support
53°02′00″N 6°25′49″E / 53.03347°N 6.4303°E	Munitiecomplex Veenhuizen	Ammunition depot
52°03′26.72″N 5°52′37.88″E / 52.0574222°N 5.8771889°E	Deelen Air Base
	Eindhoven airport	Civil airport, very pixelated.

Poland

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
52°13′18″N 21°00′09″E / 52.221648°N 21.002371°E	Urban quarter in Warsaw	The quarter containing the offices of the Military Property Agency and the Military Technical Supervision Office is blurred out. Area unobscured on Bing Maps.

Portugal

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
38°42′15″N 9°12′24″W / 38.7042°N 9.20677°W	Ministério da Defesa	Defense Ministry Offices Lisbon. Blurry image shown, but data layers are integrated when looking at previous dates.

Russia

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
79°19′22.8″N 95°19′42.13″E / 79.323000°N 95.3283694°E	Severnaya Zemlya, a large archipelago off the north coast of Russia.	All of the major islands have obviously been blurred.

Slovakia

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
47°53′03″N 17°32′30″E / 47.88417°N 17.54167°E	The switchyard of Gabcikovo Power Station	Power station switchyard obscured by an image of a grass field, as evidenced by power lines running to and from the area and a service road abruptly ending at its edge. Repetitive patterns can also be seen on the grass.

Spain

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
42°16′45″N 3°14′17″E / 42.279205°N 3.238075°E	Roses, Girona	Black zone in google maps and completely blurred in Bing.
40°27′55″N 3°44′00″W / 40.465201°N 3.733313°W	Area in Puerta de Hierro, Madrid	Regimiento Estratégico de Transmisiones número 22 (RETES22) "Strategic Signals Regiment number 22" [10][11] Image not consistent with surroundings. Completely blurred in Bing.
40°24′25″N 3°47′16″W / 40.40706°N 3.78772°W	Area in Somosaguas, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid	Mando de Transmisiones del Ejército "Army Command Signals"[11][12] Censored in Bing Bird's Eye view.
37°39′29″N 1°00′44″W / 37.658157°N 1.012094°W	Helipuerto de Cartagena	Cartagena Heliport censored in Google Maps and in 2007 for Google Earth.
36°44′51″N 2°43′06″W / 36.747447°N 2.718279°W	El Ejido	Heliport censored in most maps. Visible in Google Earth between June 2005 and March 2007.
36°40′38″N 4°30′14″W / 36.677281°N 4.503900°W	Málaga Airport runway 13/31	The airbase connected to Málaga Airport is censored in most maps, the runway itself is even censored in Bing Maps. Visible as of June 2015 in Google.

Sweden

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
59°09′49″N 17°40′58″E / 59.163661°N 17.682741°E	Hall High-security prison south of Sodertalje	Hall High-security prison. Link to Bing [13] Blurred in Bing. Although Visible in Google.
59°19′55″N 17°51′20″E / 59.332046°N 17.855496°E	Försvarets Radioanstalt - West of Stockholm near Drottningholm	Facility surrounded partially by woods which is blurred in Bing and Yahoo Maps. Replaced with badly edited overlay of woods in Eniro.se and Hitta.se. Clear in Google Maps.
59°20′47″N 18°05′14″E / 59.346302°N 18.087294°E	Högkvarteret (HKV) - Near the port of Stockholm	Headquarters of the Swedish Armed Forces. A square, red brick building. Censored in Apple's Maps and Bing - Link to Bing.[14] Clear in Google Maps, Google Earth, Hitta.se and Eniro.se

Turkey

All satellite images of Turkey for certain zoom levels are either missing or blurry countrywide on Google Maps. This problem was first discovered in Google Maps for Android app. Then, it turns out the problem is not platform-specific and countrywide. The satellite images are also blurry in the maps.google.com.tr domain since September 2015, but not in the maps.google.com domain. Lots of people are reporting the same issue in Google product forums but the problem still continues and there is not any statement made by Google about the issue. ^[15] There is no problem in satellite images with Bing Maps, Yandex Maps, Yahoo Maps and Apple's Maps.

North America

United States

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
38°53′51.61″N 77°02′11.58″W / 38.8976694°N 77.0365500°W	The White House and environs.	Buildings blurred or otherwise censored for various dates in Google Earth. Other years the area lacks any censorship.
38°53′22.99″N 77°0′01″W / 38.8897194°N 77.00028°W	The United States Capitol and environs.	Buildings blurred or otherwise censored for various dates in Google Earth. Other years the area lacks any censorship.
38°55′16.64″N 77°04′01″W / 38.9212889°N 77.06694°W	Number One Observatory Circle, official residence of the Vice President of the United States	Buildings blurred for various dates in Google Earth. Other years the area lacks any obfuscation.
42°06′53.032″N 76°49′44.64″W / 42.11473111°N 76.8290667°W	Elmira Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Elmira, New York	Censored for 4 September 2006 in Google Earth.
42°56′4.92″N 76°34′27.64″W / 42.9347000°N 76.5743444°W	Auburn Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Auburn, New York	Shown as censored, however not in all years.
42°9′36″N 76°53′30″W / 42.16000°N 76.89167°W	Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, Big Flats, New York	Censored on date 29 April 2006 in Google Earth.
42°26′32.69″N 76°28′26.04″W / 42.4424139°N 76.4739000°W	Cornell University Combined Heat and Power Plant in Ithaca, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not on Bing Maps.
41°46′34.14″N 70°32′36.13″W / 41.7761500°N 70.5433694°W	Sagamore Bridge, Sagamore, Massachusetts	Pixelated on Bing Maps, but not on Google Maps.
32°22′18″N 103°47′37″W / 32.37167°N 103.79361°W	Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico	A site one mile south of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is blurred out on Bing Maps.
44°57′12″N 74°53′06″W / 44.95333°N 74.88500°W	Alcoa aluminum smelting plants and adjacent areas in Massena, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not on Bing Maps.
42°34′12″N 71°31′23″W / 42.57000°N 71.52306°W	National Grid's Sandy Pond converter station in Ayer, Massachusetts; southern terminus of the Quebec – New England Transmission	Facility blurred on Bing Maps, but not on Google Maps.
44°2′24.34″N 75°45′36.32″W / 44.0400944°N 75.7600889°W	Fort Drum, U.S. Army base and home of the 10th Mountain Division.	The grounds and all buildings are blurred on Google Maps, but not on Bing Maps.
34°6′53.32″N 118°20′27.02″W / 34.1148111°N 118.3408389°W	Hollywood Bowl, Object North of Hollywood Bowl.	An object is blacked out in 45° view only. Older images from Bing and Yahoo, as well as the standard Google Maps view, are not obscured. There is nothing of interest at the location.
62°23′30″N 145°09′00″W / 62.39167°N 145.15000°W	The large chunk of land north of HAARP in Alaska.	The large surface of land above the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility has been left at a lower resolution than its surrounding area. Both Google Maps and Bing Maps.
41°28′21.1″N 81°41′52.39″W / 41.472528°N 81.6978861°W	Wooden house at 2207 Seymour Avenue, Cleveland Ohio	Street view is obscured in Google. Home of Ariel Castro, demolished on 7 August 2013.
39°27′24.7″N 76°09′13.7″W / 39.456861°N 76.153806°W	Aberdeen Proving Ground	Censored in Bing Maps aerial and "Bird's Eye" oblique views. Lower resolution than surrounding areas, with irregular boundaries.
31°7′50.3″N 105°41′33.7″W / 31.130639°N 105.692694°W	U.S./Mexico Border in Hudspeth County, TX	An approximately 15-mile stretch of the Rio Grande is intentionally distorted in Google Maps.

South America

Chile

Coordinates	Object	Notes	Link
43°11′56.11″S 74°15′50.91″W / 43.1989194°S 74.2641417°W	Tantauco National Park	Small area of low resolution imagery.

References

1. dunyapur
2. Deshpande, Rajeev (4 February 2007). "Google Earth agrees to blur pix of key Indian sites". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
3. "Westchester 'Blurs' Out Terror Targets On Google". WCBS-TV. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
4. Johnson, Jenna (22 July 2007). "Google's View of D.C. Melds New and Sharp, Old and Fuzzy". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
5. "Google Earth prompts Indian fears". BBC News. 5 February 2007. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008.
6. Skatssoon, Judy (8 August 2005). "Lucas Heights image stays on Google". 34.0516520;150.9804300: ABC. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
7. Moses, Asher (13 February 1989). "Google's photos of Sydney go all fuzzy". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
8. Parliament In Brief: ‘No need to blur images’ Archived May 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
9. Shachtman, Noah (19 February 2009). "Google Earth Shows U.S. Drones at Pakistani Base?". Wired.
10. "Sitios Censurados De Espa/Ñ/A En Google Earth -Foro España" (in Spanish). Google-Earth.es. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
11. "Edificio invisible en Madrid". Urbanity.es. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
12. "Photo of Pozuelo de Alarcón - Antenas del cuartel de transmisiones". Panoramio. 18 February 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
13. "Bing Maps - Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions". Bing.com. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
14. "Bing Maps - Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions". Bing.com. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
15. "Google Groups". productforums.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.

^[1]

External links

• Verboden plekken in Nederland A list in Dutch of 54 blurred locations in the Netherlands under the heading "Onherkenbaar"

1. Weirdest and Funniest Google Maps Fails and Glitches