Satellite map images with missing or unclear data

Some locations on free, publicly-viewable satellite map services, have missing, incomplete, or unclear map data. In some cases, these regions have been intentionally digitally obscured or blurred. Westchester County, New York, for example, has asked Google to blur potential terror targets (such as an amusement park, a beach, and parking lots) from its satellite imagery.

In some cases, censorship of certain sites has been removed. When Google Maps was launched, images of the White House and United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. were blurred out; current versions of Google Maps and Google Earth show these sites uncensored, but with out-of-date imagery.

Countries in official contact with Google Maps

During talks with the Indian government, Google issued a statement saying "Google has been talking and will continue to talk to the Indian government about any security concerns it may have regarding Google Earth."

The Australian government has decided that images of sensitive areas are not a risk, due to poor level of detail. It was reported that in the lead-up to the APEC forum in Sydney held in September 2007 certain key locations in images of the city's central business district, where APEC leaders were meeting, might have been intentionally reduced in resolution; however, Google has indicated that the change was unrelated to APEC, while the NSW police said that they knew nothing about the change in Google's images. As of December 2007, much of inner Sydney still remains blurred.

The government of Malaysia has stated that it will not ask Google to censor sensitive areas because that would identify the locations it deemed to be sensitive.

List of map locations with missing or unclear data

Middle East

Iraq

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
30°34′2″N 47°46′6″E	Shatt al Arab Hotel, Basra	Possibly censored due to security risks after Coalition Forces seized insurgent documents which used maps to plan attacks. No longer censored. Babylon, listed as Babil, is blurred out. There is clear evidence of farming all around the city, yet the city itself is grayed out.	[4]

Pakistan

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
27°51′0″N 65°10′0″E	Predator Air Base	Unmanned Predators. Images from 2006 were removed. Images from 2007 have runway markings removed.	[5]

East / South Asia

Tibet

Tibet/Xinjiang Province (full) of China (but Lhasa doesn't appear to be), Northern areas of Pakistan (areas include Mansehra (full), Abbottabad (partial), Balakot (full))

Japan

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
24°17′21″N 153°58′41″E	Minami Torishima Airport	Easternmost territory in Japan. Runway oversaturated in white. Runway markings invisible.	[6]

Taiwan

Rounded irregular areas overlayed with older imagery, etc.

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
24.206117°N 120.607181°E / 24.206117; 120.607181 (northwestern Taichung (Taizhong) Taiwan)	Taichung	Older imagery of Cruise missile base overlays newer science park	[7]
25.044976°N 121.60346°E / 25.044976; 121.60346 (Nangang, Taipei (Taibei) Taiwan)	Nangang military reservation	Oval overlay	[8]
24.207203°N 120.800278°E / 24.207203; 120.800278 (Xinshe, Taiwan)	Xinshe military reservations	Two military reservations, cut and pasted	[9]
24.15111°N 120.736259°E / 24.15111; 120.736259 (Taiping, Taiwan)	Taiping military reservations	Military reservations, cut and pasted	[10]
24.18626°N 120.65074°E / 24.18626; 120.65074 (Shuinan, Taichung (Taizhong), Taiwan)	Shuinan Airport (RCLG)	Airport, cut and pasted. (Note also traces of circular road to the west, that some have speculated to be traces of a furtive nuclear experiment.)	[11]
25.056911°N 121.242542°E / 25.056911; 121.242542 (Taoyuan Military Airport, Taiwan)	Taoyuan Military Airport (RCGM)	Ends of runway whited-out. Compare with civilian airport to the north.	[12]
25.047352°N 121.591471°E / 25.047352; 121.591471 (Military headquarters, Taiwan)	Military headquarters building in Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization	[13]

The above are but a few examples. Pixelization also occurs for bases like zh:成功嶺.

Europe

France

Ile du Ramier, Toulouse (Link), the location of the National Organization for Powder and Explosives (preparation of Phosgene for the aerospace industry and other form of explosive gas including Sulfur Mustard). The AZF chemical factory is pixelated, but Google Maps feature links to a detailed photo of the factory.

Germany

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
50°57′38″N 6°2′32″E	NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen		[14]

The Netherlands

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
51°26′54.21″N 03°36′17.60″E	Vlissingen, Oil tanks		[15]
51°27′6.63″N 05°22′48.14″E	Eindhoven Airport Air Force Base		[16]
51°33′06.45″N 04°56′5.56″E	Gilze-Rijen Air Base		[17]
52°05′35.97″N 04°20′39.05″E	Huis ten Bosch	residence of the Dutch Royal Family	[18]
52°05′41.95″N 05°8′21.38″E	centre of Utrecht	Apparent mistake	[19]
52°06′35.68″N 04°19′35.75″E	Nato C3 Agency		[20]
52°07′25.94″N 05°21′30.12″E	Soestdijk Palace	residence of the Dutch Royal Family	[21]
52°04′43″N 4°18′58″E	Department of Defense		[22]
52°08′01.89″N 05°16′23.45″E	Kamp Zeist (Lockerbie Trials) + Soesterberg Air Force Base		[23]
52°04′51.30″N 04°20′12.98″E	New American embassy location, under construction		[24]
52°08′16.98″N 04°30′46.29″E	Paleis Noordeinde and Royal Stables	Work palace of the Dutch Queen	[25]
52°14′55.40″N 04°26′22.74″E	part of Noordwijk aan Zee		[26]
52°22′28.06″N 04°55′2.06″E	Amsterdam, Royal Netherlands Navy base		[27]
52°23′31.28″N 05°54′48.83″E	't Harde (1), Army exercise area		[28]
52°24′20.49″N 05°53′59.54″E	't Harde (2), Army exercise area		[29]
52°57′26.37″N 04°47′26.30″E	Den Helder, Naval installations		[30]
52°16′29.38″N 06°53′38.11″E	Twente Air Force Base		[31]
52°26′47.00″N 05°59′40.00″E	Prinses Margriet Army Base		[32]
51°39′27.54″N 5°42′12.58″E	Volker Air Force Base		[33]
52°02′12.85″N 05°40′45.82″E	Command and Control Support		[34]
52°38′24.6″N 06°43′44.50″E	Two sites on Dutch-German border.		[35]

Russia

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
66°16′0″N 179°15′0″E	Possibly a Russian ICBM Complex, near town Egvekinot, Russia [36]	There is a private 1.35km north-south runway being concealed here according to Russianairbases.com Also appears to have been modified on www.mcfly.org. Bing Maps displays a duplicate spliced image of an area to the southeast.	[37]
56°6′30″N 36°49′46″E	Millergof	A private palace of the Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. The aerial photos are available on Panoramio and Terraserver, while being censored in Yahoo Maps, Yandex Maps and Wikimapia (replaced by older imagery).	[38]

Spain

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
41°21′47″N 2°09′52″E	Castell de Montjuïc	No longer censored.	[39]
37°39′29″N 1°00′44″W	Helipuerto		[40]

Portugal

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
38°45′40″N 27°05′01″W	Lajes Field	Portuguese Air Force Air Base nº 4. SAR base housing Aerospatiale SA330 Puma and C212 Aviocar aircraft for this purpose. The US Air Force 65th ABW is a detachment colocated here to support transient aircraft to the Middle East, Southwest Asia and Africa. Civilian terminal on west side of field approved for commercial traffic, refuelling and stopover operations.	[41]
38°40′46″N 9°19′19″W	NATO Base Joint Command - Atlantic	NATO Headquarters in Oeiras near Lisbon	[42]
38°39′52″N 9°08′53″W	Base Naval do Alfeite	Portuguese Navy Base, near Lisbon. Partial digital censorship.	[43]
38°42′29″N 9°02′03″W	Montijo Air Base	Used by Portuguese Air Force mainly for SAR and Transport purposes. AW101, C130 and C295 Base.See more info under Força Aérea Portuguesa	[44]
38°33′05″N 9°06′08″W	Nato Fernão Ferro	Former Nato ammunition depot	[45]
38°33′36″N 9°10′59″W	Armada Fonte da Telha	Navy Communications Center - Partially visible - Google's error ?	[46]
38°42′15″N 9°12′24″W	Ministério da Defesa	Defense Ministry Offices Lisbon	[47]

North America

United States

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
40°11′22.16″N 112°55′33.70″W	Michael Aaf (Dougway Proving Ground)	Building blacked out, areas clearly retouched.
37°58′47.19″N 84°25′7.97″W	Two houses blurred by missing data. Falsely reported as the home of actor William Hurt.	Visible on Bing Maps and Google Street View	[48]
38°53′51.61″N 77°02′11.58″WT	The White House and environs.	Superimposed low resolution imagery from an earlier date in Google.	[49]
38°53′22.99″N 77°0′01″WT	The United States Capitol and environs.	Superimposed low resolution imagery from an earlier date in Google.	[50]
38°55′16.64″N 77°04′01″W	Number One Observatory Circle, official residence of the Vice President of the United States	Superimposed low resolution imagery from an earlier date in Google.	[51]
39°27′24.7″N 76°09′13.7″W	Aberdeen Proving Ground	Lower resolution than surrounding areas, with irregular boundaries.	[52]
39°29′50.31″N 74°22′36.63″W	Section of Great Bay, near New Jersey.	Visible on Bing Maps and Map24 - Visible on Google Earth as of February 2008.	[53]
40°52′4.20″N 72°52′25.28″W	Brookhaven National Laboratory - Upton, New York	Blurred on Google maps	[54]
40°54′58.42″N 73°07′24.98″W	Stony Brook University	Visible on Bing Maps on both aerial and bird's eye view with high resolution. Blurred on Google.	[55]
41°01′58.78″N 73°46′25.74″W	White Plains train station	Visible on Bing Maps on both aerial and bird's eye view with high resolution. Blurred on Google. Street View is also available all in the blurry area.	[56]
41°15′25.23″N 73°58′48.94″W	Tomkins Cove		[57]
41°04′06.76″N 73°42′14.14″W	Westchester County Airport, White Plains, New York		[58]
41°10′43.30″N 72°12′23.99″W	Plum Island Animal Disease Center	Blurred on Google.	[59]
41°09′06″N 73°52′08″W	Sing Sing Correctional Facility		[60]
40°57′39.86″N 72°51′52.83″W	Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, Wading River, New York	Decommissioned	[61]
41°16′11.08″N 73°57′08.40″W	Indian Point Energy Center, Westchester, New York		[62]
41°21′22.48″N 74°03′13.63″W	United States Military Academy Camp Buckner Summer Installation		[63]
41°21′22.48″N 74°03′13.63″W	New York State Department of Correctional Services Downstate Correctional Facility		[64]
41°21′22.48″N 74°03′13.63″W	New York State Department of Correctional Services Beacon Correctional Facility/Fishkill Correctional Facility		[65]
41°45′08.33″N 70°32′16.49″W	Cape Cod Air Force Station - PAVE PAWS radar, Massachusetts	No longer censored	[66]
41°56′39.53″N 70°34′40.09″W	Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station, Plymouth, Massachusetts	Pixelated	[67]
42°06′53.032″N 76°49′44.638″W	Elmira Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Elmira, New York		[68]
42°23′09.97″N 71°02′37.60″W	Liquid Natural Gas Terminal, Chelsea, Massachusetts	Pixelated	[69]
42°23′24.69″N 71°03′34.84″W	Chelsea, Massachusetts - Large portion of an industrial port area in Boston.	Pixelated	[70]
42°27′34.56″N 71°16′01.63″W	Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Pixelated	[71]
42°27′47.18″N 71°16′58.87″W	Hanscom Field and Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts	Pixelated	[72]
42°31′35.71″N 70°52′35.86″W	Salem Harbor Power Station	Pixelated	[73]
42°49′29.24″N 73°52′11.88″W	Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and General Electric World Research Laboratories, Schenectady, New York	Available in high resolution at Bing Maps; dam on Mohawk River slightly downstream also blurred in Google Maps.	[74]
42°53′54.07″N 70°51′08.14″W	Seabrook Nuclear Power Station - Seabrook, New Hampshire		[75]
43°06′49.45″N 76°06′41.05″W	Syracuse Hancock International Airport - Syracuse, New York		[76]
34°47′38.52″N 82°53′44.69″W	Oconee Nuclear Station, Oconee County, South Carolina		[77]
	University of Massachusetts Lowell Nuclear Research Reactor		[78]
43°08′32″N 79°02′21″W	Hydroelectric dams and supporting waterways near Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario		[79]
	Central eastern village of Yona on the Pacific Island U.S. territory of Guam		[80]
	MasterCard Corporate Offices/Manhattanville College, Dammann and Tenney Dormitories - Purchase, New York		[81]
35°35′53.2″N 80°58′1.08″W	Marshall Steam Station, Terrell, North Carolina	Visible on maps.yahoo.com, probably mistakenly blurred for nearby McGuire Nuclear Generating Station	[82]
	Greater Rochester International Airport - Rochester, New York		[83]
	General Electric Main Plant - Schenectady, New York		[84]
40°55′37.08″N 73°51′14.38″W	Cross County Mall - Yonkers, New York	Visible on maps.yahoo.com, Bing Maps, and map24.com. The mall, neighborhood and streets have been watercolored in Google Maps.	[85]
	Pennsylvania State University and surrounding area, State College, Pennsylvania	Home to one of the U.S. Navy's top civilian research facilities	[86]
42°9′36″N 76°53′30″W	Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, Big Flats, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not Bing Maps	[87]
40°54′43.24″N 73°46′48.41″W	Downtown New Rochelle, New York		[88]
42°26′32.69″N 76°28′26.04″W	A section of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but Bing Maps	[89]
41°05′45.00″N 73°57′31.00″W	Palisades Center in Nanuet, New York.		[90]
40°57′57″N 73°40′26″W	Playland Park in Rye, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not Bing Maps	[91]
41°30′16″N 71°24′01″W	Dutch Island Jamestown in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island	Island completely missing in Google	[92]
42°51′46.71″N 78°49′48.83″W	Industrial area blurred near Buffalo River in Buffalo, New York	Blurred on Google maps	[93]
42°43′06″N 73°42′31″W	Watervliet Arsenal/Benet Laboratories in Watervliet, New York		[94]
33°30′49.91″N 115°40′33.05″W	Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range east of the Salton Sea in Riverside County, California	Details of the terrain on a hill have been blacked out. Also removed from Bing Maps	[95]

External links

• Map of Blurred Places
• Verboden plekken in Nederland A list in Dutch of 54 blurred locations in the Netherlands under the heading "Onherkenbaar"