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Why is the Gaza Strip blurry on Google Maps?

bbc.com

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

#461

Post by LeoNatan25 »

gokhan wrote: post #454
Zhenya wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Because no one there has a smart phone. Because they actually killed the journalist. /s Of the course the obvious explanation is the correct one, the building housed military targets (Hamas operations etc) and it was destroyed.

IDF couldn't provide any evidence of Hamas' existence in that building, it was all over the media yesterday. https://twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/1394287848950427649

IDF provided the evidence to US intelligence, and apparently that hasn’t made its way to the US state department yet.

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

#462

Post by ridiculous_lol »

jussij wrote: post #409
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not seeing any shortage of pictures from the ground. I mean, I agree that targeting news agencies would be a step you would take if you wanted to prevent images from the ground but you would have to be far more sweeping in your approach. If the goal is to prevent news images from making their way out of Palestine this may be the most abject policy failure the world has ever witnessed.

The facts remain; Israel did bomb the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press. That action looks a lot like Israel targeting news agencies and the two news agencies involved have both raised their concerns about that unprecedented action by Israel.

More like they bombed a building which has offices of Al Jazeera and the AP among other things.

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

#463

Post by camillomiller »

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…

Can confirm, the map in China is correct, but completely useless. Most addresses are not recognized or easily mistaken for other similar ones. Plus, the entire layer of business and POI listings that give GMaps its competitive edge are not there. It feels like using a foldable paper map.

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

#464

Post by belorn »

sudosysgen wrote: post #374
slg wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where your numbers are coming from, but they are at the very least misleading because the population was not exclusively made up of Jews and the group we now call Palestinians and not all land was privately owned. EDIT: I rephrased this to more clearly explain my point.

I don't understand your argument. Jewish Palestinians plus non-Jewish Palestinians do make up 100% of Palestinians.

You would have land owned by Jewish Palestinians, land owned by non-Jewish Palestinians, and land cooperatively owned by both Jewish and non-Jewish Palestinians. Jewish Palestinians plus non-Jewish Palestinians do not make up 100% of Palestinians, but rather the result of 100% minus land cooperatively owned by both Jewish and non-Jewish Palestinians.

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

#465

Post by mastazi »

iratewizard wrote: post #377
mastazi wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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"

Maybe he means that China is less like a country and more like an organized crime syndicate wearing a nation's clothes?

I had the impression that parent was implying that it’s not surprising for China to invoke IP protection - which is not the case with crime syndicates for obvious reasons.

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

#466

Post by belorn »

jussij wrote: post #355
plaidfuji wrote: post #342

This link title is extremely misleading to the point of being disingenuous and provocative. The title of the linked article is “Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?”... because the entire Israel / Gaza / West Bank region is blurred in the exact same way. There is no preferential blurring of Palestinian areas. The clear answer is to prevent actors on both sides from using Google’s satellite imagery to…

Israel can get all the detailed imagery it needs by just launching a reconnaissance aircraft or drone. So on that basis I would say it only stops the Palestinians from getting imagery of the area. Now considering the fact Palestine only has rockets and not missiles, I doubt that imagery is of much value to them. Call me cynical, but I suspect the more important reason to keep these images blurred might be to stop the…

It would surprise me a lot if there were no people inside both Israel and Palestinians that has the resources and international connections to buy high resolution imagery or simply direct access to satellites. Given a few millions in capital and a few shell companies, finding a commercial entity willing to lend access to a satellite for a few hours seems likely, unless control over satellites are much more militarized than I might think.

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

#467

Post by mastazi »

leephillips wrote: post #323
mastazi wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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"

Not really funny, as nouns in general do not have antonyms.

Generally nouns prefixed with mis- do; sometimes you just remove the mis- part eg. understanding vs misunderstanding, management vs mismanagement etc.

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

#468

Post by Closi »

Uberphallus wrote: post #443
skyfaller wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can OpenStreetMap or someone make non-authoritative maps, or is this impossible without the cooperation of people on the ground who cannot operate safely within the borders of China?

It's "impossible". Private, independent geographical surveying is illegal in China. [0] So technically you can't do it even in the local coordinate system. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_dat...

But I guess to OPs point, you could make a non-authoritative map based on satellite imagery, it just wouldn’t be legal to use in China.

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

#469

Post by seagullz »

lacksconfidence wrote: post #422
betterunix2 wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have learned to demand a very high standard of evidence for conspiracy theories, so...let's see the evidence that there is some conspiracy between Google and Israel to hide what is happening there. For that matter, I am not even sure what you think Israel is hiding -- Netanyahu is not at all shy about settlements, the IDF calls people up to tell them when a bomb is going to be dropped on their building, and there a…

The article makes this very clear. There is no google-israel conspiracy. The limits on satelite resolution were dictated by the US government.

And the US government is dictated by a Israel-first policy. At least in view of the UNSC vetoes [0] and the weapons it supplies.

[0] https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/43-times-us-has-used-veto...

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

#470

Post by hellbannedguy »

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.

What is the accuracy of GPS surveying?

I briefely looked through the pdf, and probally missed it?

I live in the Bay Area, and homeowners are concerned over a few inches.

(There's a huge need for cheap surveys. Until GPS gets it to under a inch, traditional surveys will off pipes, and landmarks, is here to stay? Or, am I wrong?)

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