Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps? • Hacker News Board

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

#301

Post by protomikron » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:42 PM UTC

csteubs wrote: post #286

newman8r wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about passengers taking photos/video out of windows?

Correct. It sounds a bit far-out (and it is) but we've proven the feasibility with a testing group of around 300 passengers using a multitude of different phones/altitudes/conditions/routes. GPS works in airplane mode, so we pre-cache target coordinates based on the filed flight plan and alert the passenger to hold the device to the window when overflying the target. The gyroscope is used to provide feedback on phone…

Do you have an example of the final (aerial) imagery result?

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

#302

Post by bombcar » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:45 PM UTC

exegete wrote: post #253

chimeracoder wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The closest comparison that leaps immediately to mind would be Hong Kong.

But I think the underlying theme is that descriptive words can editorialize - which is pretty obvious.

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

#303

Post by stormbrew » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:45 PM UTC

flyinglizard wrote: post #297

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.

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.

Israel recognizes no government in Gaza (neither the Palestinian Authority, which has no power there, nor Hamas, which they recognize as terrorists not a government), claims control over entry and exit to the territory of goods and people, including by sea, and claims the right to enter the territory at any time to carry out military activity.

Israel also does not recognize a Palestinian state in general to be at war with to begin with. There is some lip service to an eventual two state solution that gets less and less paid to every year, but as it stands there's no one to be at war with, as far as Israel is concerned. There's just a bunch of stateless people stuck in a postage-stamp-sized jurisdiction that they've left in a lawless state.

"Disengagement" is not devolution is not autonomy. The idea that this is a war is a convenient PR fiction.

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

#304

Post by bombcar » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:47 PM UTC

manquer wrote: post #126

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?

The more sources of information you have the better you can collect and correlate it - especially if you have various low-resolutions taken at different times but still able to be lined up.

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

#305

Post by nashashmi » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #238

DSingularity wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Yes. - Israel. - Yes, see how they took a position on the heart of this issue — the occupied territories themselves. They literally erased Palestine from the map.

>- Yes, see how they took a position on the heart of this issue — the occupied territories themselves. They literally erased Palestine from the map. The US government doesn't recognize Palestine. Therefore displaying the occupied territories as a distinct state would be the more politicalized option compared with displaying them as they currently do. Either way, it just goes to show that the idea of a company being a…

The UN recognizes Palestine as do many other countries. The US was motivated not to recognize it because of the Israeli diaspora in America.

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

#306

Post by salty_biscuits » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

acomjean wrote: post #180

jrochkind1 wrote: post #113

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…

When I was a civil engineer last century gps accuracy was an issue because people wanted to use gps for surveying. They came up with a system that would use 2 receivers and a radio between them to get much higher accuracies. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/natureofgeoinfo/book/export/... I think the US Government can also shut it off at a moments notice.

There are two frequencies (sometimes three) transmitted by the satellites. Using two frequencies allows certain atmospheric delays to be accurately estimated. Trouble is only one code is available for civilian applications. The trick with two receivers is to solve for the phase of secret signal (rather than decode it) by solving an integer least squares problem. This allows accuracy of the order of +/- 5cm

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

#307

Post by bombcar » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

iskander wrote: post #248

devmunchies wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$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.

Exactly. And it keeps Israel from buying similar equipment from Russia or China (and helping support those developers).

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

#308

Post by mastazi » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:51 PM UTC

seniorivn wrote: post #267

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not allowed to be redistributed or reverse-engineered Such irony in CCP using licensing to protect their IP

only if you have misconception about what ccp and other one party states actually are

> you have misconception

and what's the "correct-conception"?[1]

I'm curious because I get what parent means in terms of intellectual property issues in China but I don't get what do you mean from your comment, especially the fact that you include "other party states" - is it some sort of general rule that you're hinting at?

[1] funny, I just realised that there is no antonym of "misconception"

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

#309

Post by Tabular-Iceberg » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:51 PM UTC

seniorivn wrote: post #267

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> distributed to licensed companies in binary .dll/.so/.a , and not allowed to be redistributed or reverse-engineered Such irony in CCP using licensing to protect their IP

only if you have misconception about what ccp and other one party states actually are

If you think you know better what the CCP is, why don’t you educate us?

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

#310

Post by NickNameNick » Mon, May 17, 2021, 11:52 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #272

yborg wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also enabled the modern mobile navigation industry. I was working on automotive navigation systems in the early 90s and SA was a killer for the product, options were various dead-reckoning and inertial sensors or differential GPS, both of which ended up being cost-prohibitive. But you can't do usable route guidance with a 100m CEP in an urban area.

With modern high powered CPU's, more detailed maps, and particle filters (which require all that cpu), dead reckoning has become much more viable. I suspect you could go hours driving round a city with the GPS and WiFi location turned off before losing your position - simple wheel speed, gyro and compass is sufficient for most stuff.

You'd also need to account for slope.