According to ComputerWorld, state legislator Joel Anderson of the California Legislature has introduced a bill to limit the detail shown in imagery on web mapping applications such as Google Earth, and presumably, Yahoo Maps, and Microsoft Virtual Earth
. The motivation for the bill is the contention that online mapping applications help terrorists plan attacks. The bill would require schools, places of worship, government buildings and medical facilities in California to be blurred on web maps.
I guess my (tongue-in-cheek) question is, is this a marketing scheme that will require terrorists to buy high resolution digital imagery of California from Digital Globe or GeoEye ?
Doesn't anyone think this will actually help the Terrorists instead of actually being a barrier for them. When they see areas that are blurred they will instantly know that these are high profile buildings which would give away their importance.
Hi Res sat photos can then be obtained from commercial providers or even surveillance on the ground could be carried out on those targets.
Most mapping apps can let you search for building by name or category anyway so it sort of defeats the purpose.
Dumb idea if you ask me (GIS Officer UK)
Posted by: Mark Burrell | March 06, 2009 at 03:08 AM