If you look at London Heathrow in terrain mode on Google Maps no planes are visible. Most other airports have at least some planes visible at the gates. Why is this?
Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#2Why would planes be visible? It’s not a satellite app.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#3Why would planes be visible? It’s not a satellite app.
I think he means the "satellite" layer, not the "terrain" layer.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#4I assume you mean satellite and not terrain mode. Terrain mode doesn't have images so there are no planes visible at any airports. As for satellite mode I looked briefly and noticed 2 planes.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#5I see the same suspicious lack of aircraft on the ground. It's really interesting. I see one Qantas aircraft taxiing onto runway 09R, and a Saudi aircraft taxiing into parking from 09R, and that's it. Also interesting is that I see a bunch of trucks on both ends of runway 09L. The Google Maps imagery of other major airports, and even military airfields, shows many aircraft on the ground.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#6That's really strange. I don't see any planes in gates at LGW either, but spot checked other airports that have planes in gates.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#7I see the same suspicious lack of aircraft on the ground. It's really interesting. I see one Qantas aircraft taxiing onto runway 09R, and a Saudi aircraft taxiing into parking from 09R, and that's it. Also interesting is that I see a bunch of trucks on both ends of runway 09L. The Google Maps imagery of other major airports, and even military airfields, shows many aircraft on the ground.
I've found a few references around the web to an effort by Google Maps, about five years ago, to remove non-static objects likes cars and pedestrians from the satellite views. The algorithm is cool, but I guess there's nothing more interesting to this than that.
As an aside, when I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012, I worked on an airfield and forward operating base that got hammered with effective rocket and mortar fire on a daily basis. I was... annoyed to discover that Google Maps satellite view showed our footprint in perfect detail; like I could see the tent where I slept, where every one of our aircraft parked, etc. It's not like anything about it was secret, but the imagery could certainly provide good targeting information for whoever wanted to shoot at us. I wish things had been removed from the imagery back then. It stayed that way until 2021 or 2022, long after we'd abandoned that place.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#8I see the same suspicious lack of aircraft on the ground. It's really interesting. I see one Qantas aircraft taxiing onto runway 09R, and a Saudi aircraft taxiing into parking from 09R, and that's it. Also interesting is that I see a bunch of trucks on both ends of runway 09L. The Google Maps imagery of other major airports, and even military airfields, shows many aircraft on the ground.
I've found a few references around the web to an effort by Google Maps, about five years ago, to remove non-static objects likes cars and pedestrians from the satellite views. The algorithm is cool, but I guess there's nothing more interesting to this than that. As an aside, when I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012, I worked on an airfield and forward operating base that got hammered with effective rocket and…
I hope they do that for Street View.
Actually, I would like it to be a toggle. Sometimes I might want to know if a place is likely to be busy or not. Sometimes there's a bus blocking the storefront that I want to see.
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#9Yes sorry I meant satellite!!
Maybe someone from HN could help fix the title + desc if possible :))
Re: Ask HN: No planes visible at LHR on Google Maps (terrain)?
#10I assume you mean satellite and not terrain mode. Terrain mode doesn't have images so there are no planes visible at any airports. As for satellite mode I looked briefly and noticed 2 planes.
Yes I meant satellite. Still strange as it's one of the busiest airports in the world and images appear to be taken during the day so... no way there were only 2 planes at any given point... For example Gatwick (LGW) does show quite a few planes just parked.