Making the invisible visible

How did the censorship of the researched places online change over time and which are the techniques used to censor them on Google Earth Pro?

Pixeled Type of censorship Misplaced Mixed techniques Blurred Not censored No photo Covered Low resolution Military area Military area Facility Governmentbuilding Nuclear site Urban area Natural area Island Refugee camp 2000 2004 2009 2014 2019 2000 2004 2009 2014 2019 2000 2004 2009 2014 2019 2000 2004 2009 2014 2019
03-camp-buckner-us 02-haarp-us 04-fort-drum-us 05-aberdeen-us 06-michael-aaf-us 07-pave-paws-us 08-tonopha-test-range-us 09-generalcommandairforce-taiwan 10-national-security-bureau-taiwan 11-military-logistic-command-taiwan 12-Camp-Shoraback-afghanistan 13-bpo-belgium 14-erguemin-belgium 15-fort-eben-mael-belgium 16-cheoburg-france 17-istres-le-tube-france 18-orange-caritat-france 19-toloun-arsenal-france 20-Reims-aribase-France 21-hwu-france 22-velyzi-france 23-ingolstadt-germany 24-nato-aribase-germany 25-ramestein-germany 26-andravida-greece 27-ayioi-anargyoi-greece 28-dowodtzo-poland 29-hydrometereological-poland 30-Nato-ammo-depot-portugal 31-nato-base-joint-command-portugal 32-rosas-airstation-spain 33-army-command-spain 34-strategic-signal-spain 35-nato-c3-netherlands 36-tankmanufacturer-netherlands 37-volkel-netherlands 38-shamsi-airport-pakistan 01-area51-us 01-mazda-us 02-israel 03-tel-aviv-israel 04-northkorea 05-Moronvillers-france 06-Vauban-france 07-unknown-emporio-greece 08-Chekov-russia 09-Patio-de-los-naranjos-spain 10-rosas-spain 11-girona-spain 12-valencia-city-phillipines 13-urban-area 14-vissingen-netherlands 15-noordwik-netherlands 23-malaga-airport-spain 01-knolls-atomic-us 02-Buffalo-niagara-airport-us 03-elmira-correctional-us 04-Mobile-oil-corporation 05-syracuse-airport-us 06-Cornell-university-us 07-Auburn-us 08-Keowee-dam-us 09-minami-torishima-japan 10-baumette-france 11-saint-quentin-france 12-riom-prison-france 13-kephalonia-greece 14-thessaloniki-greece 15-facility 16-szashalombatta-hungary 17-mortonvasar-substation-hungary 18-portlaoise-prison-ireland 19-private-house-netherlands 20-alexey-miller-house-russia 21-gabcikovo-slovakia 22-missile-silo-spain 02-areva-france 01-marcoule-france 03-india-power-plant-us 04-seabrooke-us 05-Mapam-Yumco-Lake-China 04-Glacier-Antarctica 06-Razzaza-lake-iraq 07-snow-saddle-nepal 01-Baker-lake-canada 02-natural-area 03-Unknown-place-in-Oregon-US 09-government-building

While available satellite images allow exploring all the places on Earth, they also show which of them have been censored. Google Earth Pro, unlike Google Maps, enables users to see places timelines, and how censorship is applied, despite there are no images of each year. The analysis wants to give back a historical view of how this phenomenon and its visual languages have changed over time.

Main Findings

Many places alternate censored photos with uncensored photos over the years, sometimes even in the same year. Moreover, in almost half of the places, the type of censorship changed through time.

example of finding


The techniques of censorship vary based on the type of cluster: the most used techniques are pixels and low-resolution images for military areas, blurring and covering areas for facilities, covering for natural areas and islands.


The covering technique is the most used method of censorship. The places can be covered by regular or irregular geometric forms, by repeating the same satellite photo from the past over the years, or by using colour modification.

example of finding


On Google Earth Pro, respectively, Area 51 (US), Camp Shorabak (AF), Tel-Aviv (IL), Moronvilliers (FR), a house in the Netherlands, Western Campeche Bank Islands (MX), Faroe Islands (DK), Janette and Severnaya Zemlya Islands (RU), and Atoll Moruroa (PF) are always censored over time, except some years that don’t show the images.

example of finding


Respectively, Camp Buckner and Tonopah Test range (US), Ingolstadt Airbase (DE), Israel, North Korea, Rosas (ES), Syracuse Hancock Airport (US), an unknown place near Kos (GR), Alexey Miller’s house (RU), Baker Lake (CA) and Antarctica appear as censored places in the research on Google Search, but they have never been censored on Google Earth Pro.

example of finding


A private house in the Netherlands is always covered by a field in all the satellite photos available on Google Earth Pro.

example of finding

Protocol

example of protocol

Data sources

Date of retrieval