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Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#11

Post by flyinglizard »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #5
Permit wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reads like a thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction but I think there is opportunity for you to expand on your comment and guide the discussion to an interesting place. Who is “they” in this case? What war crimes are hidden by low quality satellite images that would have been exposed by high quality images? Are there any competing ideas as to why these regions might be hidden?

Wow, well I mean if you want I can just link you to well-thought and detailed blog posts and news articles about Israel's war crimes against Palestine and how Israel is an apartheid state.

That's such trivialization of the word "apartheid", considering Gazans are under their own rule and that 20% of Israel are equal rights Arabs (something like 10% in France, for example). It has become a political term, but meaningless in practice.

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#12

Post by packetslave »

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #3

I've heard there are some pretty intense debates inside Google about mapping issues related to Israel/Palestine (what to label, where to draw lines, etc).

From what I remember, it's less of an "intense debate" over the political issues themselves, and more "how do we define and serve a world map in a non-political way, in areas of the world where the map itself is political" like Kashmir, Israel/Palestine, and a bunch of other places that most people who don't live there haven't heard of.

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#13

Post by 542458 »

cutemonster wrote: post #10

The authors hint that they think the photos are low resolution, to make it harder to see how many buildings got bombed in Gaza. Which would indicate that the current politicians in Israel have some leverage over Google? (Which I find interesting.) (Other nearby regions, eg Syria, are high resolution they write.) The authors mention that, elsewhere, satellite photos were used to measure "the destruction of Rohingya vi…

They wouldn’t need leverage over Google, only over the companies (or the approvals and regulations that govern the companies) that take the arial photos that Google uses.

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#15

Post by packetslave »

This seems to not be a new thing. It's illegal for US companies to release high-resolution images of Israel:

"In fact, all of Israel is shown in low resolution by all U.S.-based mapping services due to the Kyl–Bingaman Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997. Entitled "Prohibition on collection and release of detailed satellite imagery relating to Israel," the amendment requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Agency to regulate the distribution of zoomed images of Israel. While a review of the Kyl-Bingaman amendment is said to be taking place, images of Israel stubbornly remain blurry."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyl%E2%80%93Bingaman_Amendment

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#16

Post by kccqzy »

packetslave wrote: post #15

This seems to not be a new thing. It's illegal for US companies to release high-resolution images of Israel: "In fact, all of Israel is shown in low resolution by all U.S.-based mapping services due to the Kyl–Bingaman Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997. Entitled "Prohibition on collection and release of detailed satellite imagery relating to Israel," the amendment requires the National Ocean…

The article says the KBA was dropped in 2020.

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#18

Post by senko »

packetslave wrote: post #12
Ozzie_osman wrote: post #3

I've heard there are some pretty intense debates inside Google about mapping issues related to Israel/Palestine (what to label, where to draw lines, etc).

From what I remember, it's less of an "intense debate" over the political issues themselves, and more "how do we define and serve a world map in a non-political way, in areas of the world where the map itself is political" like Kashmir, Israel/Palestine, and a bunch of other places that most people who don't live there haven't heard of.

> areas of the world where the map itself is political

That would be everywhere. Even the most boring border in the world is political: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_disputed_by_Ca...

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#19

Post by packetslave »

kccqzy wrote: post #16
packetslave wrote: post #15

This seems to not be a new thing. It's illegal for US companies to release high-resolution images of Israel: "In fact, all of Israel is shown in low resolution by all U.S.-based mapping services due to the Kyl–Bingaman Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997. Entitled "Prohibition on collection and release of detailed satellite imagery relating to Israel," the amendment requires the National Ocean…

The article says the KBA was dropped in 2020.

Ah, I see, the limit was revised from 2m to 0.4m, but not dropped entirely (and Wikipedia needs an update). There's still an Israel-specific restriction, but it's significantly less draconian:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/21/2020-15...

Re: Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?

#20

Post by pydry »

cutemonster wrote: post #10

The authors hint that they think the photos are low resolution, to make it harder to see how many buildings got bombed in Gaza. Which would indicate that the current politicians in Israel have some leverage over Google? (Which I find interesting.) (Other nearby regions, eg Syria, are high resolution they write.) The authors mention that, elsewhere, satellite photos were used to measure "the destruction of Rohingya vi…

Whether or not it was leverage related, I remember thinking the same thing when I saw that Google routinely placed me in Israeli settlements (e.g. Kiryat Arba, pop 700) when I was in Palestinian territory (Hebron, pop 215,000).
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