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A recurring theme of BBS discussion is possible censorship by Google. It has been suggested that this is not Google's responsibility, because the data is provided by other sources, and that users should take it up with such sources. We look to Google for the quality of the output, no matter how or where they obtain the data. As noted elsewhere, one does not receive bad food from a restaurant, and then permit the owner to tell you to contact the farmer if you are dissatisfied.
This is a conservative listing, because censorship can be a serious assertion. The censorship must be clear and obvious when compared with adjacent imagery. Generally, they are in three categories: blurring, pixelization, and "whiteout."
Obvious blurring or smudging: Canada and USA
Pixelization: Netherlands, Massachusetts, New York State, Washington DC
Canada ---- Ontario Hydro substation, censored by NY State GIS. Noted by C. Hays ---- Wager Bay area censored by blurring; NOT censored in Microsoft''s Virtual Earth, noted 28 July 2005, Reasons unknown
China, Fixed
France ---- Dijon airfield, noted by "Jumble," 3 June 2007 ---- Metz airfield, noted 3 June 2007 ---- Reims airfield, noted by "sw," 22 March 2007 ---- Toulouse munitions plant, La Société Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs, 4 June 2007
Germany Reasons unknown ---- Geilenkirken NATO HQ - the reason for this one is apparent. Caused by the new Netherlands imagery. ---- Heidelberg's "white-out" determined to be uncensored; Kleinglattbach, Monzelfeld and Oberthulba moved to "Missing Images."
Israel Jon Kyl (Republican of Arizona and co-chairman of the US-Israel Joint Parliamentary Committee on National Security) and Jeff Bingaman (Democrat of New Mexico) amended the 1996 Defense Appropriations Act:
Quote: No department or agency of the Federal Government may license the collection or dissemination by any non-Federal entity of satellite imagery with respect to Israel, or to any other country or geographic area designated by the President for this purpose, unless such imagery is no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery of the country or geographic area concerned that is routinely available from commercial sources.
In 1998, the US Commerce Department determined the routinely available resolution to be 2 meters. In June 2006, Google Earth improved most of Israel from the general 15 meter backgournd resolution.
Italy ---- After further analysis and consultation, Aviano and Pisa airbases have been removed from this listing, April 2007
Netherlands (introduced with the new high-resolution images in March-April 2006 and greatly expanded in September). ---- Royal & official residences - we contrast 6 censored with 8 NOT censored ---- Military 2, NATO 11, Air Force 13, Army 25, Navy 8, Miscellaneous 4 ---- Unknown 11 Help is needed to identify these.
Russia: ---- Chukotskiy censored by blurring, noted 23 July 2005 and 18 February 2006. Instead of blurring, Microsoft's Virtual Earth copied a nearby image and placed it on the area, which we show. Reasons unknown
Spain:: ---- Canary Islands: All prior censorship removed with 29 March 2007 update. ---- Catalonia: 5803 Cap de Creus radar
UAE: Tarif, Abu Dhabi area no longer has what was considered to be a questionable gray rectangle.
UK: ---- 617465 Calstock, noted Posting. NOT censored in Microsoft's Virtual Earth
USA ---- Washington, DC: Naval Observatory and the US Vice President's house An uncensored view is available HERE from a govenment Web site. Microsoft's Virtual Earth also blurs this location. They also still blur the Capitol buildings and the White House, which Google stopped censoring in the autumn of 2005. ---- Massachusetts State GIS censorship. The high resolution imagery is supplied by the state's MassGIS agency. They have introduced their own form of easily identified "pixelated" censorship. ---- New York GIS censorship: The high resolution imagery is supplied by the NY State GIS agency. The censorship appears to be selected by the counties, because they vary greatly in criteria. Westchester County continues to be the most highly censored, followed closely by Long Island. We have significantly expanded our analysis upstate and in Long Island after the September 2006 image upgrades. Many blurred Hudson Valley locations were noted 5 May 2006. Note the 7-by-7 mile size of the West Point Academy forest blurring in Orange County. Orange and Suffolk County have not blurred some locations - they simply "paint" them in white. ---- Perry, OH: nuclear power plant. This has been blurred in Google Earth, but it was clear in Google Maps until January 2006. See this posting for all such plants. It is NOT censored in Microsoft's Virtual Earth
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