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D.C. were blurred out; current versions of Google Maps and Google Earth show these sites uncensored, but with out-of-date imagery.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.

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.	[1]

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.	[2]

East / South Asia

North Korea

Google Maps shows nothing in North Korea apart from a single marker for Pyongyang, though when looking at satellite images, North Korea is shown fine. In contrast, OpenStreetMap has substantial coverage of North Korea.

Tibet

Tibet (excluding Lhasa, Northern areas of Pakistan (Mansehra, Abbottabad (partial) and Balakot)

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.	[3]

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	[4]
25.044976°N 121.60346°E / 25.044976; 121.60346 (Nangang, Taipei (Taibei) Taiwan)	Nangang military reservation	Oval overlay	[5]
24.207203°N 120.800278°E / 24.207203; 120.800278 (Xinshe, Taiwan)	Xinshe military reservations	Two military reservations, cut and pasted	[6]
24.15111°N 120.736259°E / 24.15111; 120.736259 (Taiping, Taiwan)	Taiping military reservations	Military reservations, cut and pasted	[7]
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.)	[8]
25.107496°N 121.535756°E / 25.107496; 121.535756 (National Security Bereau Headquarters)	National Security Bereau Headquarters	Pixelization	[9]
25.047352°N 121.591471°E / 25.047352; 121.591471 (Military headquarters, Taiwan)	Military headquarters building in Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization	[10]

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

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
41°10′20″N 53°42′23″E	Garabogazköl	The Garabogazköl Basin is shown with a large obscured rectangular area.	[11]

Europe

France

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
44°8′36″N 4°42′34″E	Marcoule	The Marcoule site of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique is shown pixelated.	[12]

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. Reims – Champagne Air Base.

A number of French military installations are pixelated, including the naval bases at Toulon and Brest. HWU transmitter is shown in worse resolution.

Germany

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
50°57′38″N 6°2′32″E	NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen		[13]

Hungary

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
47°20′17″N 18°49′58″E	Martonvasar Substation	380 kV/220 kV-Substation	[14]
47°41′31″N 19°09′44″E	God Substation	380 kV/220 kV-Substation	[15]
47°31′55″N 19°07′59″E	Zuglo Substation	220 kV-Substation	[16]
47°16′32″N 18°54′04″E	Százhalombatta Oil refinery		[17]

Ireland

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
53°02′16.69″N 7°17′10.72″W	Portlaoise Maximum Security Prison	An old satellite image from 2005 is superimposed over newer images for the entire area of the prison. The prison houses convicted members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and other illegal paramilitary organisations. The security features include an army detachment of the Irish Defence Forces armed with assault rifles and anti-aircraft machine guns. An air exclusion zone operates over the entire complex.	[18]

The Netherlands

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
50°56′16.85″N 5°58′45.89″E	Joint Force Command Brunssum	Images smudged on Google maps, images normal in Bing Maps. Marked as AFCENT on maps.	[19]
51°26′54.21″N 03°36′17.60″E	Vlissingen, Oil tanks		[20]
51°27′6.63″N 05°22′48.14″E	Eindhoven Airport Air Force Base	No longer censored 9/7/10.	[21]
51°28′32.48″N 05°22′7.66″E	unknown - NW of Eindhoven Airport Air Force Base		[22]
51°33′06.45″N 04°56′5.56″E	Gilze-Rijen Air Base	Pixelization	[23]
52°05′35.97″N 04°20′39.05″E	Huis ten Bosch	Residence of the Dutch Royal Family	[24]
52°05′41.95″N 05°8′21.38″E	centre of Utrecht	Apparent mistake No longer censored 5/10/10	[25]
52°06′35.68″N 04°19′35.75″E	Nato C3 Agency		[26]
52°07′25.94″N 05°21′30.12″E	Personeelsvereniging Tankwerkplaats	good example of censoring	[27]
52°04′43″N 4°18′58″E	Department of Defense		[28]
52°08′01.89″N 05°16′23.45″E	Kamp Zeist (Lockerbie Trials) + Soesterberg Air Force Base	No longer censored 9/7/10	[29]
52°04′51.30″N 04°20′12.98″E	New American embassy location, under construction	No longer censored 9/7/10	[30]
52°4′51.01″N 04°18′24.99″E	Paleis Noordeinde and Royal Stables	Work palace of the Dutch Queen	[31]
52°14′55.40″N 04°26′22.74″E	part of Noordwijk aan Zee		[32]
52°22′28.06″N 04°55′2.06″E	Amsterdam, Royal Netherlands Navy base	No longer censored 9/7/10	[33]
52°23′31.28″N 05°54′48.83″E	't Harde (1), Army exercise area	No longer censored 9/7/10	[34]
52°24′20.49″N 05°53′59.54″E	't Harde (2), Army exercise area		[35]
52°57′26.37″N 04°47′26.30″E	Den Helder, Naval installations	Pixelization	[36]
52°16′29.38″N 06°53′38.11″E	Twente Air Force Base		[37]
52°26′47.00″N 05°59′40.00″E	Prinses Margriet Army Base		[38]
51°39′27.54″N 5°42′12.58″E	Volkel Air Force Base		[39]
52°02′12.85″N 05°40′45.82″E	Command and Control Support		[40]
52°38′24.6″N 06°43′44.50″E	Two sites on Dutch-German border.	No longer censored 9/7/10	[41]
52.373254°N 4.891287°E / 52.373254; 4.891287 (Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam)	Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam	Royal Palace of Amsterdam	[42]

Russia

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
66°16′0″N 179°15′0″E	Possibly a Russian ICBM Complex, near town Egvekinot, Russia [43]	There is a private 1.35 km north-south runway being concealed here according to Russianairbases.com.[citation needed] Also appears to have been modified on www.mcfly.org. Bing Maps displays a duplicate spliced image of an area to the southeast.	[44]
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, Terraserver and Yandex Maps, while being censored in Yahoo Maps and Wikimapia (replaced by older imagery).	[45]

Slovakia

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
48°41′55″N 18°32′0″E	Nováky Power Plant, a huge power station with 300 metres tall chimney	Power station is pixeled in order to have worse resolution	[46]
48°15′44″N 18°27′12″E	Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant	Areal of power station is pixeled	[47]
47°53′03″N 17°32′30″E	The switchyard of Gabcikovo Power Station	Fenced-in area of grass at whose edge a road and two powerlines end. May be the area of switchyard of Gabcicovo Power Station, which is disguised by a lawn. As road ends at edge on same level, it seems to be no underground facility.	[48]

Spain

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
40°27′55″N 3°44′00″W	Area in Puerta de Hierro, Madrid	Regimiento Estratégico de Transmisiones número 22 (RETES22) "Strategic Signals Regiment number 22" [49] [50] Censored in 2009, clear in earlier imagery still visible in Google Earth.	[51]
40°24′25″N 3°47′16″W	Area in Somosaguas, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid	Mando de Transmisiones del Ejército "Army Command Signals"[52] [53] Censored in 2009, clear in earlier imagery still visible in Google Earth.	[54]
37°39′29″N 1°00′44″W	Helipuerto de Cartagena	Cartagena Heliport	[55]
36°44′51″N 2°43′06″W	El Ejido	On this lot there is a small building with something almost like a silo in the middle. This location is not blocked in yahoo maps. There is no image for this location in Virtual Earth yet	[56]

Sweden

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
59°20′53″N 17°57′45″E	Mediatec Broadcast Sweden AB near Sundbyberg	"Mediatec is one of Europe’s largest corporations"...so there is bound to be more obscurations. Unclear why this is censored. Link to Bing[57] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[58]
59°24′44″N 17°50′03″E	SAAB Technologies near Jakobsberg	High Technology park - probably why it was ASKED to be obscured. Link to Bing[59] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[60]
59°09′49″N 17°40′58″E	Hall High-security prison south of Sodertalje	Hall High-security prison. Link to Bing [61] Clear in Eniro.se and in Google Earth.	[62]
59°18′12″N 18°05′10″E	Fortum Energy near the port of Stockholm	Unclear why this part of the facility is censored and to the south it isn't. Link to Bing[63] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[64]
59°21′06″N 18°06′08″E	Fortum Energy - Power station near the port of Stockholm	Just some run-of-the-mill Power plant. Link to Bing[65] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[66]
59°21′28″N 18°05′39″E	Fortum Energy - Gas Works north of the port of Stockholm	Big facility that can be seen nearly everywhere in the high hills surrounding Stockholm. Link to Bing [67] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[68]
59°19′55″N 17°51′20″E	Försvarets Radioanstalt - West of Stockholm near Drottningholm	Facility surrounded partially by woods. Censored in Bing. Replaced with badly edited overlay of woods in Eniro.se and Hitta.se. Clear in Google Maps.	[69]
59°20′47″N 18°05′14″E	Högkvarteret (HKV) - Near the port of Stockholm	Headquarters of the Swedish Armed Forces. A square, red brick building. Censored in Bing - Link to Bing[70]. Clear in Google Maps, Google Earth, Hitta.se and Eniro.se	[71]

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." This may simply be cloud cover.	[72]
38°40′46″N 9°19′19″W	NATO Base Joint Command - Atlantic	NATO Headquarters in Oeiras near Lisbon. Very easy to tell cut and paste was used.	[73]
38°39′52″N 9°08′53″W	Base Naval do Alfeite	Portuguese Navy Base, near Lisbon. Partial digital censorship.	[74]
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. Planes were probably removed from the image.	[75]
38°33′05″N 9°06′08″W	Nato Fernão Ferro	Former Nato ammunition depot	[76]
38°33′36″N 9°10′59″W	Armada Fonte da Telha	"Navy Communications Center - Partially visible - Google's error ?"	[77]
38°42′15″N 9°12′24″W	Ministério da Defesa	Defense Ministry Offices Lisbon. False image in place 9/7/10	[78]

North America

United States

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
40°11′22.16″N 112°55′33.70″W	Michael Aaf (Dugway 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	[79]
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. Bing also has a highly pixelated and digitally modified image.	[80]
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.	[81]
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.	[82]
39°27′24.7″N 76°09′13.7″W	Aberdeen Proving Ground	Lower resolution than surrounding areas, with irregular boundaries.	[83]
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.	[84]
40°52′4.20″N 72°52′25.28″W	Brookhaven National Laboratory - Upton, New York	Blurred on Google maps	[85]
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.	[86]
41°10′43.30″N 72°12′23.99″W	Plum Island Animal Disease Center	Blurred on Google.	[87]
40°57′39.86″N 72°51′52.83″W	Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, Wading River, New York	Decommissioned	[88]
41°21′22.48″N 74°03′13.63″W	United States Military Academy Camp Buckner Summer Installation	Heavily blurred	[89]
41°45′08.33″N 70°32′16.49″W	Cape Cod Air Force Station - PAVE PAWS radar, Massachusetts	Very low resolution	[90]
41°56′39.53″N 70°34′40.09″W	Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station, Plymouth, Massachusetts	Pixelated	[91]
42°06′53.032″N 76°49′44.638″W	Elmira Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Elmira, New York		[92]
42°23′24.69″N 71°03′34.84″W	Chelsea, Massachusetts - Large portion of an industrial port area in Boston.	Pixelated	[93]
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.	[94]
42°53′54.07″N 70°51′08.14″W	Seabrook Nuclear Power Station - Seabrook, New Hampshire		[95]
42°56′4.69″N 78°43′59.98″W	Buffalo Niagara International Airport - Erie County, New York	Blurred on Google maps	[96]
43°06′49.45″N 76°06′41.05″W	Syracuse Hancock International Airport - Syracuse, New York		[97]
34°47′38.52″N 82°53′44.69″W	Oconee Nuclear Station, Oconee County, South Carolina		[98]
43°08′32″N 79°02′21″W	Hydroelectric dams and supporting waterways near Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario		[99]
43°7′8.5″N 77°40′43.49″W	Greater Rochester International Airport - Rochester, New York	Blurred on Google maps	[100]
	General Electric Main Plant - Schenectady, New York	Lat/Long "42.80977, -73.95776"	[101]
42°9′36″N 76°53′30″W	Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, Big Flats, New York	Facility blurred and retouched in Google, but not Bing Maps	[102]
42°26′32.69″N 76°28′26.04″W	Cornell University Combined Heat and Power Plant in Ithaca, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not Bing Maps	[103]
42°51′46.71″N 78°49′48.83″W	Mobil Oil Corporation blurred near Buffalo River in Buffalo, New York		[104]
42°43′06″N 73°42′31″W	Watervliet Arsenal/Benet Laboratories in Watervliet, New York		[105]
34°48′00″N 82°53′12″W	Keowee Dam on Lake Keowee, South Carolina	Facility blurred on Google Maps.	[106]
34°57′36″N 82°55′10″W	Dam and hydroelectric facility on Lake Jocassee, South Carolina	Facility blurred on Google Maps.	[107]
40°55′22.1″N 73°20′34″W	Natural gas and conventional oil electric power generating station.	Facility blurred on Google Maps.	[108]
42.491176, -79.346942	Niagara Mohawk (NRG) Powerplant; Dunkirk, New York	Blurred out facility, and surrounding area.	[109]
36.202659,-120.103569	Lemoore Naval Air Station; Lemoore, California	Pixelated as well as surrounding area on both Google, Bing Maps, and MapQuest.	[110]
41°46′34.14″N 70°32′36.1278″W	Sagamore Bridge, Sagamore, Massachusetts	Pixelated on Bing Maps.	[111]

South America

Chile

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
43°11′56.11″S 74°15′50.91″W	Tantauco National Park	Area removed.	[112]

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"