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D.C. were blurred out; current versions of Google Maps and Google Earth show these sites uncensored, but with out-of-date imagery.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." Google agreed to blur images on request of the Indian government.

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. It is known that images of Her Majesty's Australian Prisons are intentionally blurred out. Images of the PM's official residence, The Lodge have not been blurred. However images of its roof has and the entrance to The Lodge is blurred in Google's Street View.

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

As of February 2013 North Korea is fully covered in Google Maps including Satellite view. Certain cities have a higher level of detail than others. Previously, Google Maps blurred North Korea. There was a single marker for Pyongyang; other towns and locations were identified only when using the search box.

OpenStreetMap has substantial coverage of North Korea.

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 202 Military Factory	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 Bureau Headquarters)	National Security Bureau Headquarters	Pixelization	[9]
25.047352°N 121.591471°E / 25.047352; 121.591471 (Army Logistics Command headquarters, Taiwan)	Army Logistics Command headquarters building in Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization	[10]
25.03986°N 121.53977°E / 25.03986; 121.53977 (Republic of China Air Force facility, Taiwan)	Republic of China Air Force facility in Daan District, Taipei, Taiwan	Pixelization	[11]

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

Southeast Asia

Philippines

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
7.907422°N 125.08853°E / 7.907422; 125.08853 (Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines)	areas east from the city proper of Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines	Most areas of Valencia City, especially the city proper, are not updated by Google. When zoomed in, the images appears blurry and to some extent, unavailable.	[12]
7.872649°N 125.071878°E / 7.872649; 125.071878 (Musuan Peak, Maramag, Bukidnon, Philippines)	Musuan Peak and certain areas surrounding it.	Most areas of Musuan Peak and surrounding areas, are not updated by Google. When zoomed in, the images appears blurry and to some extent, unavailable.	[13]

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
41°10′22.57″N 53°42′15.47″E	Garabogazköl	The Garabogazköl Basin is shown with a large obscured rectangular area.	[14]

Europe

Denmark, Faroe Islands

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
62°6′46″N 7°15′33″W	suspected military installation	Some features are revealed in map only mode: lake Fjallavatn, Vága floghavn airport and surrounding streets. Some portions at East and South of the Faroe Islands are equally stripped out, without any underlying map data at all.	[15]

France

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
46°42′47″N 1°14′39″E	HWU transmitter	reduced resolution	[16]
43°42′28″N 5°46′29″E	ITER	Colored out.	[17]
44°8′36″N 4°42′34″E	Marcoule	The Marcoule site of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique is shown in reduced resolution.	[18]
49°40′49″N 1°52′48″W	AREVA La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing facility	The AREVA La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing facility is shown in reduced resolution.	[19]

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.

Germany

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
50°57′38″N 6°2′32″E	NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen	Something severely censored on the western side of the base on Google Maps. Not censored on Bing Maps aerial view, but completely censored on Bing bird's eye view.	[20]

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.	[21]

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 blurred in Bing Maps. Marked as AFCENT on maps.	[22]
51°28′32.48″N 05°22′7.66″E	Generaal Majoor de Ruyter van Steveninck Kazerne		[23]
51°33′06.45″N 04°56′5.56″E	Gilze-Rijen Air Base	Pixelization	[24]
52°05′35.97″N 04°20′39.05″E	Huis ten Bosch	Residence of the Dutch Royal Family	[25]
52°5′41.31″N 5°8′14.68″E	centre of Utrecht	In 2006 a quite large area was blocked out, apparently this was a mistake. Starting in 2010, only one building was blurred out on Google, although the larger area remained obscure on Bing.	[26]
52°06′35.68″N 04°19′35.75″E	Nato C3 Agency		[27]
52°07′25.94″N 05°21′30.12″E	Personeelsvereniging Tankwerkplaats	Good example of censoring	[28]
52°04′43″N 4°18′58″E	Department of Defense		[29]
52°08′01.89″N 05°16′23.45″E	Kamp Zeist (Lockerbie Trials) + Soesterberg Air Force Base	No longer censored 9/7/10	[30]
52°04′51.30″N 04°20′12.98″E	New American embassy location, under construction	No longer censored 9/7/10	[31]
52°4′51.01″N 04°18′24.99″E	Paleis Noordeinde and Royal Stables	Work palace of the Dutch Queen	[32]
52°14′55.40″N 04°26′22.74″E	part of Noordwijk aan Zee		[33]
52°22′28.06″N 04°55′2.06″E	Amsterdam, Royal Netherlands Navy base	No longer censored 9/7/10	[34]
52°23′31.28″N 05°54′48.83″E	't Harde (1), Army exercise area	Pixelated 05/03/12	[35]
52°24′20.49″N 05°53′59.54″E	't Harde (2), Army exercise area		[36]
52°57′26.37″N 04°47′26.30″E	Den Helder, Naval installations	Pixelization	[37]
52°16′29.38″N 06°53′38.11″E	Twente Air Force Base		[38]
52°26′47.00″N 05°59′40.00″E	Prinses Margriet Army Base		[39]
51°39′27.54″N 5°42′12.58″E	Volkel Air Force Base		[40]
52°02′12.85″N 05°40′45.82″E	Command and Control Support		[41]
52°38′24.6″N 06°43′44.50″E	Two sites on Dutch-German border.	No longer censored 9/7/10	[42]
52.373254°N 4.891287°E / 52.373254; 4.891287 (Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam)	Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam	Royal Palace of Amsterdam	[43]
53.03347°N 6.4303°E / 53.03347; 6.4303 (Munitiecomplex Veenhuizen)	Munitiecomplex Veenhuizen	ammunition depot	[44]
52°17′35.44″N 4°28′18.62″E	"Radio Nora" transmitter site		[45]

Poland

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
52°13′18″N 21°00′09″E	Urban quarter in Warsaw	The quarter containing the offices of the Military Property Agency and the Military Technical Supervision Office is blurred out. Area unobscured on Bing Maps.	[46]

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.	[47]
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.	[48]
38°39′52″N 9°08′53″W	Base Naval do Alfeite	Portuguese Navy Base, near Lisbon. Partial digital censorship.	[49]
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.	[50]
38°33′05″N 9°06′08″W	Nato Fernão Ferro	Former Nato ammunition depot	[51]
38°33′36″N 9°10′59″W	Armada Fonte da Telha	"Navy Communications Center - Partially visible - Google's error ?"	[52]
38°42′15″N 9°12′24″W	Ministério da Defesa	Defense Ministry Offices Lisbon. False image in place 9/7/10. Some form of radio tower is visible in Yahoo maps but is replaced with a bushes on Google Maps.	[53]

Russia

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
66°16′16.6″N 179°14′6.28″E	A permafrost area without any buildings and structures	It was wildly speculated to possibly be a Russian ICBM Complex or a gold mine. It is proved to be an area that was left out by a Landsat-7 satellite. Anyway, the underlaying original photograph appears as if it was "holed out" manually with a cutter: four straight cuts and their four intersections are visible under the blurring. The reason why this uncovered area was blurred out on Google Maps is unknown. Bing Maps displays a duplicate spliced image of an area to the southeast.	[54]
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).	[55]

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	Reduced resolution imagery	[56]
48°15′44″N 18°27′12″E	Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant	Reduced resolution imagery	[57]
47°53′03″N 17°32′30″E	The switchyard of Gabcikovo Power Station	Power station switchyard obscured by an image of a grass field, as evidenced by power lines running to and from the area and a service road abruptly ending at its edge. Repetitive patterns can also be seen on the grass.	[58]

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" [59] [60] Censored in 2009, clear in earlier imagery still visible in Google Earth. [Not censored at present, image not consistent with surroundings - February 2013]	[61]
40°24′25″N 3°47′16″W	Area in Somosaguas, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid	Mando de Transmisiones del Ejército "Army Command Signals"[62] [63] Army base less clear than neighboring areas. Censored in Bing bird's eye view.	[64]
37°39′29″N 1°00′44″W	Helipuerto de Cartagena	Cartagena Heliport	[65]
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	[66]

Sweden

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
59°20′53″N 17°57′45″E	Mediatec Broadcast Sweden AB near Sundbyberg	Link to Bing [67] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[68]
59°24′44″N 17°50′03″E	SAAB Technologies near Jakobsberg	Link to Bing [69] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[70]
59°09′49″N 17°40′58″E	Hall High-security prison south of Sodertalje	Hall High-security prison. Link to Bing [71] Clear in Eniro.se and in Google Earth.	[72]
59°18′12″N 18°05′10″E	Fortum Energy near the port of Stockholm	Link to Bing [73] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[74]
59°21′06″N 18°06′08″E	Fortum Energy - Power station near the port of Stockholm	Link to Bing [75] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[76]
59°21′28″N 18°05′39″E	Fortum Energy - Gas Works north of the port of Stockholm	Link to Bing [77] Clear in Eniro.se, in Google Earth and Google Street View.	[78]
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.	[79]
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 [80]. Clear in Google Maps, Google Earth, Hitta.se and Eniro.se	[81]

Turkey

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
40°33′24″N 28°32′36″E	İmralı prison island	All buildings in facilities are censored.	[82]

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	[83]
38°53′51.61″N 77°02′11.58″W	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.	[84]
38°53′22.99″N 77°0′01″W	The United States Capitol and environs.	Superimposed low resolution imagery from an earlier date in Google.	[85]
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.	[86]
39°27′24.7″N 76°09′13.7″W	Aberdeen Proving Ground	Lower resolution than surrounding areas, with irregular boundaries.	[87]
42°06′53.032″N 76°49′44.64″W	Elmira Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Elmira, New York		[88]
42°56′4.92″N 76°34′27.64″W	Auburn Correctional Facility (maximum security prison), Auburn, New York		[89]
42°53′54.07″N 70°51′08.14″W	Seabrook Nuclear Power Station - Seabrook, New Hampshire		[90]
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	[91]
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	[92]
41°46′34.14″N 70°32′36.13″W	Sagamore Bridge, Sagamore, Massachusetts	Pixelated on Bing Maps.	[93]
36°26′4.10″N 119°52′25.15″W	Riverdale, California	Lots of fields in the area are blurred out. But not in Bing maps.	[94]
32°22′18″N 103°47′37″W	Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico	A site one mile south of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is blurred out on Bing Maps.	[95]
44°57′12″N 74°53′06″W	Alcoa aluminum smelting plants and adjacent areas in Massena, New York	Facility blurred in Google, but not Bing Maps	[96]
42°34′12″N 71°31′23″W	National Grid's Sandy Pond converter station in Ayer, Massachusetts; southern terminus of the Quebec – New England Transmission	Facility blurred in Bing Maps, but not Google	[97]
44°2′24.34″N 75°45′36.32″W	Fort Drum, U.S. Army base and home of the 10th Mountain Division.	The grounds and all buildings are blurred in Google Maps but not in Bing Maps.	[98]
34°6′53.32″N 118°20′27.02″W	Hollywood Bowl, Object North of Hollywood Bowl.	An object is blacked out in 45° view only. Older images from Bing and Yahoo, as well as the standard Google Maps view, are not obscured. There is nothing of interest at the location.	[99]

South America

Chile

Coordinates	Object	Comment	Link
43°11′56.11″S 74°15′50.91″W	Tantauco National Park	Area removed.	[100]

External links

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