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Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

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331–340 of 693 posts

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

#331
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to note that the removal of selective availability enabled the creation of Geocaching ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching#History ).

There were already workarounds in place before they switched off SA - the introduced error was consistent within a given area, so provided you had a fixed location that broadcast its coordinates, you could correct for the error. I believe there were products and possibly even standards that did all of this; would have been even easier in today's world of mobile internet. I have suspicions that this was a large reason…

Also, WAAS https://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

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

#332

My address actually isn’t even listed on google maps. I tried to rectify the situation but they wanted proof which baffled me because how do I prove where I live when they’re the ones with the damn satellites?

Give them your utility bill with your address?

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

#333
post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Were you using the term "claims control over entry of goods into the territory" instead of "claims their land", there would be much less to argue about. "claims their land" sounds like Israel would like to annex Gaza and make it part of Israel - which is ridiculous and patently false.

Is it? Certainly, there are political factions within Israel that claim it should be part of Israel -- that's why there were settlements to remove in the first place. It would be ridiculous to deny that, honestly. Those factions seem to continue to grow in influence every year as well.

The idea that Israel should be one state that covers the entirety of the former mandate of Palestine seems to actually be pretty popular in Israel right now. It may not be the official policy, but it is a very real possibility.

Regardless, if a country exerts every measure of control over a territory it can including entry and exit from it along international borders, it's really hard imo to argue that it sees it as sovereign in any way. Israel clearly does not see Gaza as an independent state. So if it's not an independent state what exactly is it a part of if not Israel.

Or, to put it a little bit more snarky: you can't neglect your way out of an occupation. Neglect is, in fact, a weapon in cases like this.

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

#334
post #270

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.

Well, you actually don't know the facts. Palestine is a land, it was called that way even when the time of the British mandate, before WWII. Are the arabs that lived there are Palestinians? Yes. But what you don't mention is that also the jews that lived there were called Palestinians. The land of Israel and Palestine are exactly the same thing. There are arab Palestinians and jew Palestinians. They were not so smart…

Well, you actually don’t know the facts. Did Jews live there before the British? Yes. But what you don’t mention is that they were under 8% of the total population. Of course, given what you already omit, you also omit that those 8% owned only 2% of the land. So tell me, why would the 92% accept that so much of what is rightfully theirs would be forcefully taken from them and given to a minority population? Especially when, at this point in 1947, so many of them were settlers who emigrated from Europe to colonize Palestinian land.

But you know, for someone who claims to know the facts, it sure seems like you are purposefully spreading disinformation.

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

#336
If you were to look up my address (I wish I could post publicly for verification purposes but for security I cannot) it doesn’t display it. It comes up with “address does not exist” and skips from my one neighbor’s house to the next completely skipping over our house.

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

#338
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The reasoning behind the government's decision is irrelevant here. Google is a company headquartered in the US. Going against the official policy of the US government is a more politicalized move than going with the status quo. Side note, you should be careful using Israeli and Jewish as interchangeable terms. There is no such thing as an "Israeli diaspora".

>Going against the official policy of the US government is a more politicalized move than going with the status quo.

How can this be when the policy of the US government is itself determined by politics in its original, non-metaphorical form?

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

#339
post #266
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South Korean on GMaps feel likes a snapshot of 2009. Whereas the rest of Google Maps has switched to something vector based, South Korea still has tiling based map images with different images for different zoom levels and the place names just baked into the image. Any idea why? Apple Maps is great in comparison.

It's a similar law to what's discussed here. The justification is protection from NK.

Could it be a licensing issue?

Naver Maps has really good street view and very accurate maps in SK.

https://map.naver.com/

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

#340

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…

Really silly question - but can't they correct for this without the GCJ-02 by just correlating the mutual of the map information with the satellite information? It seems like if you can have all the information provided to you, just randomly warped by some deliberate obfuscation you could 'trivially' (aka primitively) correct for it by using the available data of the satellite and the maps by feature matching and non-rigid registration?

edit: updated silly question after reading more on this

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