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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?

#291
Usually what I do in these situations is jump to Yandex maps, but they're the pulling the same censoring in Gaza and surroundings.

Here's a French prison blurred out on Google Maps, but uncensored on Yandex:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Prison+%22La+Sant%C3%A9%22/...

https://yandex.com/maps/org/tyurma_sante/117105575064/?l=sat...

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

#292

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…

> But Google Maps doesn't do it, for political reasons I suppose?

Or whoever is in charge of importing the data simply doesn’t know that different coordinate systems is a thing. You’d be surprised how many GIS professionals are oblivious to this, especially ones in charge of things that tend to spill large amounts of oil into the environment when they get it wrong: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/london-club-warni...

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

#293
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Circa 1999, I was a member of a search and rescue team through the explorer scouts. We got to carry milspec GPS devices on a hike once, because the forestry service wanted accurate maps of some trails. We were under strict orders not to deviate from the trail or tamper with the devices. Very fun cloak&dagger atmosphere for what was otherwise a lovely walk in a park. Hilarious that the need for such missions was obvia…

I love walking around with purpose. Like when my car didn't have a tire iron in it, so I walked home and walked back in ratty clothes with a tire iron through a couple miles of nice neighbourhood.

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

#294

There is perhaps an interesting machine learning application here. There are higher resolution images available at lower frequencies and low resolution images possible with high frequency. Would it not possible to "zoom and enhance" a low resolution image to higher resolution one using historical high res data of the location and learning from object types and classification?

> Would it not possible to "zoom and enhance" a low resolution image to higher resolution one using historical high res data of the location and learning from object types and classification? Sure. Probably provide pretty convincing high-detail images. For the cases of most interest—i.e., when the new activity is unusual and unexpected—it will often be detailed, convincing, and completely wrong , though.

There are definitely applications where those details don't matter , that is why low res services do exist after all.

It would be nice UX enchantment if you will to what is a low res product.

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

#295
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…

> If we're trading references, can you show me some where the BBC refers to Paris as "one of the most densely populated places in the world?"

"Tricks from the most densely populated city... Paris is one of the most densely populated city in the EU with relatively few green spaces."

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p06sbtzz/tricks-from-the-most...

> 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 areas, yet I constantly see it in reference relatively much-less-densely-populated Gaza.

War in dense urban areas is a special kind of hell.

And it's not particularly rare to note dense population when it is especially relevant.

> Officials in Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, have said the country is overwhelmed with the Rohingya population that has emerged in the Cox’s Bazar area.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/stateless-persecuted...

> At first, Rwanda’s president, Juvénal Habyarimana, refused, protesting that Rwanda was among the most densely populated countries in the world

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/sep/12/americas-secret...

> For four months in 2017, an American-led coalition in Syria dropped some ten thousand bombs on Raqqa, the densely populated capital of the Islamic State.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/americas-war-o...

> Withholding of more precise data raises eyebrows as rights groups remain sceptical of geographic coordinates in densely-populated areas.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/27/us-led-coalition-a...

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

#296
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you walk me through your thinking here? I don’t quite follow. I am listening and open to being wrong.

Thinking? I didn't do any. I divided the #pop by #area in units I can relate to (Km^2), then looked at the table and figured out it would be #5.

Ok I think I’m able to piece back together what you’re talking about: it sounds like you’re ranking Gaza on the list of most densely populated “Country (or dependent territory)” but excluding cities. The article refers to it as one of the most densely populated “places” in the world.

What’s the reason for excluding cities when ranking the most densely populated places in the world? When I imagine “the most densely populated places in the world” I think first of cities, I assume most people do.

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

#297

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.

That’s very disingenuous - there are zero territorial claims against Israel in Gaza Strip. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, dissolving all settlements in the area, back in 2005.

The blockade is simply an ongoing state of war between Gaza and Israel. Gaza also borders with Egypt.

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

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Looking at the country list, I see Israel is the #5 most densely populated country in the world. You're looking at the second table, which includes only the 100 most populous countries. If you look at the main table, which includes all countries, Israel is #17.

Good point, thank you.

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

#299
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is the fault of Hamas, which derailed the peace process 15 years ago after running a political campaign that delegitimized the peace process itself (they claimed that it was actually terrorism, not diplomacy and negotiated deals, that had caused the Israelis to withdraw from Gaza). As I said, their first move after taking control of Gaza was to murder political opponents. They fought a civil war against Fa…

Sure, because life on Gaza strip on 2006 was all moonlight and roses. Hell even going back 30 years ago you wouldn't find much difference [0]. I wonder what political force or nation could be benefiting from this constant chaos. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(comics)

The peace process was in 1996, not 2006. Hamas doesn't accept the partition decision of 1948, even fatach don't really accept it because they ask for "right of return", meaning all Arabs who used to be in Israel area in 1948 and their descendant should have a right to go back to Israel, effectively destroying Israe as a Jewish country. So sometimes this political stance manifest itself in a type of violence, like the suicide bombs during the Oslo agreement times in the 90', which caused it to derail and become more of a war than a peace process. But even if they were the most peaceful people in the world, their stance doesn't change, that Israel should be another Arab country. So the only option for Jews is either to live Israel or live under some Arab dictatorship, like any other middle eastern Arab country.

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

#300
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinking? I didn't do any. I divided the #pop by #area in units I can relate to (Km^2), then looked at the table and figured out it would be #5.

Ok I think I’m able to piece back together what you’re talking about: it sounds like you’re ranking Gaza on the list of most densely populated “Country (or dependent territory)” but excluding cities. The article refers to it as one of the most densely populated “places” in the world. What’s the reason for excluding cities when ranking the most densely populated places in the world? When I imagine “the most densely po…

They are not removing cities blindly, they are only including cities with more than 1m people. That removes places like Pateros which, while incredibly dense, are not particularly populous.
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