Pixelated airfields on Google Maps

I noticed this news item about pixelated or blurred satellite imagery on the BBC today

Google to be sued by Belgium for not blurring military sites

Google is facing legal action from Belgium for not blurring images of military sites.

The Belgian defence ministry had requested that the company obscure air bases in its satellite imagery.

A spokesman for Google said it has been working closely with the Belgian government for two years.

"The Ministry of Defence will sue Google," a spokeswoman for the ministry told Reuters.

Further details about the legal action were not given, although the ministry is said to have requested sites such as nuclear power plants and air bases be blurred on the search giant's satellite imagery.

It's a shame the Belgium Department of Defence have decided to take this decision," Michiel Sallaets, spokesman for Google in Belgium, said in a statement.

"We have been working closely with them for more than two years, making changes to our maps where asked to make them legal under Belgian law.

"We plan to continue working with them in that spirit of cooperation."

The company has previously been asked to obscure sensitive military sites in countries including France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Google Street View is currently unapproved in India. In 2016 the defence ministry there cited concerns over the security of sensitive military installations as a reason for not letting the company map street-level images.

Earlier this year, security concerns were raised over the fitness tracking firm Strava. The company's "heatmaps", generated by its users as they run or cycle, were shown to expose the exercise routines of military personnel in secret bases around the world.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45681213

Alex wrote:

Do we imagine that hostile foreign powers rely heavily on google maps?
Possibly only the slightly more “tinpot” regimes...

I think rebels have been shown using them in Afghanistan, Syria etc. Would not be surprised if their colleagues in Europe used them for doing reconnaissance - might have been mentioned in some court cases.

Funny how it is always Google Maps that gets mentioned, rarely BING!

Most of the imagery on Google Earth is not satellite, at least for the UK, but aerial photo mosaics. They come from various suppliers and in many cases you can buy them from the suppliers website. Google merely lags behind in terms of updates, by a couple of years. The satellite imagery is easily spotted either the country level overviews or the poorer quality stuff, with lots of cloud in them when you zoom out from the better aerial photos. I assume what happens on the UK coverage also happens elsewhere. The military quality satellite imagery probably doesn't feature on Google Earth.

This means that Google are not the owners of the imagery, although I am not clear on Streetview, so Martin's Bing comment applies to suppliers. Also Bing hosts modern obliques for many urban areas and these are much more useful to terrorists, criminals and urban explorers (if they are not criminals!).

I suspect the likes of Google are allowed to use photos of active military sites because the military know full well that most potential enemies have better quality information anyway, probably on a daily basis. However there are some cleverly disguised details which you would know were disguised although I believe the White House Roof was obvious.

Alex's reference to Tin Pot regimes using Google Earth, that may be 10 years out of date, would make a great comedy sketch/programme/film