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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?

#251

Post by lr4444lr »

squarefoot wrote: post #81
dijit wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA is the only country on earth that recognises all of Israel’s territory claims.

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

While that at a glance looks likr a thorough source, you might want to mention that most of that aid was a result of the after math of the 1973 war, which led to a stabilization of the Suez region militarily, friendly relations between Egypt (which also got annual aid from the deal) and U.S., the Camp David Accords, and an enduring peace that's nearing half a century between Egypt and Israel.

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

#252

Post by aembleton »

kzrdude wrote: post #187

It's usually called satellite imagery, but isn't most of the high-resolution, closest photos actually aerial imagery, not from satellites? In that case I would understand if there isn't that much coverage.

I don't they'd be able to get high resolution photos of Pyongyang without using satellites.

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

#253

Post by exegete »

chimeracoder wrote: post #204
exegete wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must just be something that gets repeated without verification at this point. For comparison Gaza City has a slightly higher population density than NYC (but less than Hoboken, NJ) while the entire Gaza Strip has the same population density as Boston ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities... ).

> For comparison Gaza City has a slightly higher population density than NYC (but less than Hoboken, NJ) while the entire Gaza Strip has the same population density as Boston Comparing Gaza to Boston is a bit misleading. Boston is closely integrated into an entire metro area, and the city limits of Boston are artifacts of history. Comparing to NYC is even less meaningful, because NYC is part of an integrated tri-stat…

I’m sorry if I came across as trying to minimize the dire situation those who live in Gaza are in. You’re right - people in NYC don’t have a foreign power controlling their airspace and shoreline as well as the numerous other differences. I was responding to the idea that it has a higher population density than most other cities and giving some comparisons solely on that metric.

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

#254

Post by aembleton »

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%”

Google already knows this if you have an Android phone.

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

#255

Post by golergka »

sequoia wrote: post #242
jcranmer wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 coun…

Same reason that this conflict always gets the same optics in international media — jewish lives are worth less. At first, as you don't want to believe it, you argue, you investigate, you really try to find any sane reason that while these things are happening on ground with you and your family, everybody else still sees a different picture, and then you just come to realisation that there's no other explanation for it.

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

#256

Post by stormbrew »

sequoia wrote: post #246
stormbrew wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ro…

> 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..."

I mean, is it? The suburbs of Paris and Seoul are relatively unbounded in size, if nothing else. Gaza has a hard line on how many sqmi it is in a way very few other jurisdictions do. The density of Gaza is particularly relevant because the situation makes that density a problem in ways it isn't really for Paris or Seoul, as they are not being bombed, blockaded, or subject to limitations on when they even have power or water.

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

#257

Post by ska »

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%”

The temporal resolution isn't great, and you don't have much control over timing. Also 50cm is too coarse for much people-sized activity to be really identifying.

So; great for seeing how a property has been developed over time, not so great for seeing who is going the gym or not.

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

#258

Post by qwertox »

randomluck040 wrote: post #163
robotastronaut wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitpicky, but useful for anyone interested in spatial data: WGS-84 is not a "GPS standard" but rather a geographic coordinate system and is usually paired for consumption with a projection like wgs 84 web mercator to view those 3d coordinates on a 2d plane. Super interesting stuff and reconciling these standards across the globe is a really fun problem, and one you'll likely run into if you ever find yourself dabblin…

I’m also working in the field and the Friar thing that came to mind was https://ihatecoordinatesystems.com haha

I hate them too. It's the worst to have to reproject an image or GeoJSON and overlay it onto a map. Very satisfying one you've managed to do it, but it's a pain nonetheless, at least if you don't work in the geospatial field and rarely use tools like GDAL.

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

#259

Post by ska »

kzrdude wrote: post #187

It's usually called satellite imagery, but isn't most of the high-resolution, closest photos actually aerial imagery, not from satellites? In that case I would understand if there isn't that much coverage.

These days a lot of it is satellite. Sub-meter commercial imagery from satellites became first avaiable some time in the 90s I think, and pretty cost effective in the last decade or so.

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

#260

Post by mhb »

chimeracoder wrote: post #204
exegete wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must just be something that gets repeated without verification at this point. For comparison Gaza City has a slightly higher population density than NYC (but less than Hoboken, NJ) while the entire Gaza Strip has the same population density as Boston ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities... ).

> For comparison Gaza City has a slightly higher population density than NYC (but less than Hoboken, NJ) while the entire Gaza Strip has the same population density as Boston Comparing Gaza to Boston is a bit misleading. Boston is closely integrated into an entire metro area, and the city limits of Boston are artifacts of history. Comparing to NYC is even less meaningful, because NYC is part of an integrated tri-stat…

So maybe the wordsmiths in the media could select a more descriptive adjective than most dense.
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