Google Earth - censored?

[Captain S itmagnet]

Something has possessed me to zoom in on North Korea on Google Earth to see what kind of airport is at Pyongyang and maybe what a/c types are parked there. A few miles north of the city is a place labeled Sunan, with what appears to be a military airfield. When you zoom in on it, white square pixels materialise to the point that all detail is lost.
If I zoom in on any location in Pyongyang this effect does not happen.
FWIW I am not viewing this from a place that would be expected to block this information
any ideas?

[CpnCrunch]

Just haze I think. The satellite imagery is split up into tiles, and if you scroll you can see where one tile begins and another one ends. Sometimes there is haze or the lighting is different because that tile was photographed at a different time.

[grimey]

most of the higher-resolution imagery is aerial photography, not satellite. North Korea isn't going to allow that.

[pilotman15]

Hi Captain S

I just tried it and also had a slight white resolution issue with Sunan... It looks like there is at least one plane parked on the main apron there. It appears as though the military field is at a place called Sunchon... slightly northwest. You can zoom in on it with no issues.

[Taiser]

If they can get Area 51 (although not super clear either) on Google Earth I don't see why the N.K's would make Google nervous!

[cdnpilot77]

A few years ago there was big controversy when the images showed very good detail of a highly classified submarine propulsion system at dry docks in the Seattle area. I am skeptical whether North Korea would have the power to censor (except low level aerial mapping) satellite images.

[Mach1]

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/51-t ... ps-071508/

[PilotDAR]

On one of my two computers, my own 100 acre property is precisely whited out on Google Earth. No matter how I zoom, it remains. Everything else around is visible okay. I emailed Google Earth to ask about it, but I think they are too busy to reply to me.

It's okay though, I know that I'm still here, as my other computer still shows me on Google Earth!

[13820]

Try Bing maps. My acreage pic is at least four years newer.

[sidestick stirrer]

Several years ago I was reading a book describing how companies build the warships for the US Navy.
Used Google Earth to look up their locations and-while the buildings were shown in great detail-what was actually on the ways was obliterated by a white rectangle...

[Beach 200]

I've done the same with zooming in on North Korea and seeing what they got. If you want to talk censoring, try zooming in on South Korea. It won't let you! Well it will to a point but not anywhere close enough to get much detail like the North.
Cause I'm sure The North has google Earth too and there military would use it to any advantage they can. Hence why it's limited to protect the south!

[co-joe]

Remember Google is a business, so if N Korea said you take big picture of us, we no let you in country, presto, image not found...

[ScudRunner]

Ya because google could be huge with the dozen people that own computers and have internet access in North Korea

[Nark]

Images don't come from Google per se, they come from other private companies.
Heres a link:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/# ... j4PBawX4Og

Which links these actual image companies:
http://www.spatialenergy.com/
http://www.digitalglobe.com/
http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/
http://www.satimagingcorp.com/gallery.html
http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/aerial.html


I often use google earth to show folks where I've been overseas. The images are much like N Korea, or simply not up to date, say pre- March 2003.

Also, the government's various image intel (IMINT) agencies have higher resolution images, however they don't allow commercial distribution of them.