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Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

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Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#241

Post by trainsplanes »

sequoia wrote: post #231
Kranar wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you find a single reference stating that it's the most dense city or area in the world? I tried looking for one but failed. There are well over 10,000 cities in the world and Gaza City is likely among the top 500 for population density, which would put it in the top 5%. Do you generally call things out as being untrustworthy for claiming that the top 5% is among the highest in a rank?

Here is a single reference: https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2016/07/12/pcbs-reports-g... "Do you generally call things out as being untrustworthy for claiming that the top 5% is among the highest in a rank?" The reason I consider this claim "misleading" is that I never see the "one of the most densely populated..." phrase on stories about Paris, Kathmandu, Seoul or any of the hundreds of more densely populated are…

They’re referring to the fact Gaza/Palestine is one of the densest countries in the world.

Gaza is also completely surrounded by sea and another country, so it’s an incredibly dense place with no room to grow. Seoul and Paris are also dense places, but you can keep walking and eventually you see it thin out without a clear border on city limits. Put a fence around Paris city core and fire a missile on the city center—news will talk about one of the densest places on earth being blown up.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#242

Post by sequoia »

jcranmer wrote: post #142
sequoia wrote: post #134

Tangentially related but where does this come from and why is it so widely repeated (as in this article): > ...Gaza, one of the most densely populated places in the world I've seen this claim (both in the "one of the most..." and " the #1 most..." forms) many times and I don't know where it comes from. What am I missing? Here[0] wikipedia says Gaza Strip has ~5,046/sqkm. I thought maybe Gaza City was meant, it's dens…

You're probably missing this listing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen... Where Gaza listed as its own country, it would be one of the densest, since it's basically a city and its urban sprawl and nothing more (like the other densest entries on the list). Of course, Gaza is itself arguably only part of Palestine, but the West Bank itself is pretty dense (see how high Palestine ranks on tha…

Looking at the country list, I see Israel is the #5 most densely populated country in the world. And Bnei Brak is the #5 most densely populated city, far more densely populated than Gaza. Bnei Brak was hit by rockets this week.

Can you link me to some articles that refer to "Hamas firing rockets on Bnei Brak, one of the most densely populated cities in the world"? Or "on israel, one of the most densely populated countries"?

If not, my question for you is: why do we see this phrase so commonly in reporting on Gaza but not on other more densely populated areas?

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#243

Post by Laforet »

jtsiskin wrote: post #233
ComputerGuru wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No; at least per the providers, actual low-orbit satellite imagery is available to the (paying) public at 50cm resolution.

That’s a little scary. If those covered the globe, you could see and track anyone anytime they left their house. This gets dystopian fast. Imagine the ad targeting. Or “sorry, we notice you haven’t been to the gym all month, we have raised your insurance premiums 10%”

You don't even need satellite to track people, the FBI has been getting really good results with a small fleet of Cessnas.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/fbi-surveill...

Not to mention you already carry a mobile phone with both Bluetooth and wifi turned on. You gym plus others knew you have not been there since February.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#244

Post by avdlinde »

jtsiskin wrote: post #233
ComputerGuru wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No; at least per the providers, actual low-orbit satellite imagery is available to the (paying) public at 50cm resolution.

That’s a little scary. If those covered the globe, you could see and track anyone anytime they left their house. This gets dystopian fast. Imagine the ad targeting. Or “sorry, we notice you haven’t been to the gym all month, we have raised your insurance premiums 10%”

50cm is not really good to identify a person. And it's not real time at all. You'd be better off calling the gyms directly.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#245

Post by giantg2 »

giantg2 wrote: post #44
Denvercoder9 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 1 px/m², the Earth's surface is 5×10^14 pixels, so with the full constellation of 10,000 satellites and 1 fps that'd be 5×10^10 pixels/satellite/second (about a terabit/satellite/second uncompressed). If you can shoot 30 images per second, you'd need a 1.6 gigapixel camera. It's technically possible but not feasible.

"It's technically possible but not feasible." Not to mention that earth imaging satellites require approval by the government and, I believe, compliance with international regulations.

Why downvote?

It's really frustrating to see people downvote a factual statement (as opposed to opinion) without giving any sort of correction to that information. If I'm wrong - show me! I don't need this sort of crap after working all day at a job I hate where my voice is basically worthless and a legitimate debate can't take place.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#246

Post by sequoia »

stormbrew wrote: post #240
sequoia wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a single reference: https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2016/07/12/pcbs-reports-g... "Do you generally call things out as being untrustworthy for claiming that the top 5% is among the highest in a rank?" The reason I consider this claim "misleading" is that I never see the "one of the most densely populated..." phrase on stories about Paris, Kathmandu, Seoul or any of the hundreds of more densely populated are…

Are Paris, Kathmandu, Seol, or Hoboken under blockade by a government that claims their land but makes the people on that land stateless, and also periodically bombs their urban infrastructure? It's possible that the density of gaza is in some way relevant to the current events taking place there in a way that it might not be for the other places you've listed.

There are plenty of stories where this would be relevant. "Many refugees are landing in suburbs of Paris, one of the most densely populated..." "...rural Korean population is flocking to Seoul, one of the most..."

Anyway it's clear that Gaza is a densely populated area. I still consider the highly selective use of the "one of the most" phrasing curious. For the record I think it's bad to drop bombs onto (or fire rockets into) civilian areas even if they are only sparsely populated, for what it's worth.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#247

Post by heavyset_go »

alisonkisk wrote: post #224
DSingularity wrote: post #151

The motivation should be obvious to everyone here: to stop the public from directly seeing the Israeli war crimes. That way the propaganda machine coming from the American authorities can continue to be swallowed hook, line, and sinker.

This makes no sense whatsoever, regardless of what side you are allowed with. Satellite imagery is inferior to simple cameras at documenting what's happening in Gaza, war crimes or not. You are not improving the reputation of Palestinian concerns with your post, so you if you want to help them, rethink your approach.

Satellite imagery can be damning when it comes to documenting genocide. See this article for a modern example[1] or this article for another example from WWII[2].

[1] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/muslims-...

[2] https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2020/01/holocaust-evid...

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#248

Post by iskander »

devmunchies wrote: post #210
squarefoot wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just that. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf

$38 billion. woah. if US continues to give Israel unconditional aid then it will start to look like a vassal state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassal_state

It's primarily a subsidy for American weapons manufacturers (from whom the Israelis have to make purchases), mixed with a hefty R&D budget for new military technology like Iron Dome.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#249

Post by anonymousDan »

f430 wrote: post #221
anonymousDan wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/17/palest...

curious but how many alt nick accounts do you have on this website?

Huh? The parent seemed to be oblivious as to the reasons why some people would have sympathy for the Palestinians. I posted an article giving the perspective of a Palestinian in the midst of the situation.

Re: Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

#250

Post by joshuaheard »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #113
squeaky-clean wrote: post #97

Not really related to the article at hand, but I've been on a bit of a Google Maps binge the past couple weeks. I learned a few interesting facts, blurry Israel being one of them. Another strange thing I found that might not be super well known (I didn't know about it) is that all GPS data in China is offset by a nonlinear psuedo-random amount. If you turn on the satellite view in Google Maps and look at various citi…

My memory says that US government GPS at one point intentionally introduced reduction in accuracy/resolution as well, but they stopped, which was part of what led to the commercial GPS revolution (along with cheaper tech of course). Let's see... Wikipedia seems to confirm: > During the 1990s, GPS quality was degraded by the United States government in a program called "Selective Availability"; this was discontinued o…

Yes, when it first came out, it was a boon for cruising sailors such as myself who were using radio-based Loran up to that time. If I remember correctly, the civilian resolution was originally 50 meters, then lowered to 10 meters. I believe it is 1 meter today.
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