Why do Israel and Palestine appear blurry on Google Earth?

 

The satellite images have become essential for documenting conflicts, in particular for corroborating the locations of missile fire, the buildings targeted or even observing the damage. Yet researchers currently working on the Middle East clashes face a serious problem: Much of Israel and Palestine appear blurry on Google Earth, although satellite companies have better images. recalls the BBC. “The fact that we do not receive high-resolution satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories makes us step back,” Samir, a researcher using publicly available data, told the media.

Until last year, US law, with the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment passed in 1997, imposed a restriction on the quality of images that local businesses could provide commercially over Israel and Palestine. The United States thus intended to respond to Israeli security concerns, with the sole authorization to deliver images with a pixel size of no less than two meters, the BBC said. These restrictions were finally dropped in July 2020, especially after other non-American suppliers were able to offer images with a higher resolution, forcing Washington to reconsider its position. Now each pixel can measure up to 40 centimeters, making it possible to observe objects the size of a human.

“No project to share for the moment” at Google

Among the most used mapping applications, those of digital giants Google and Apple, Google Earth and Apple Maps, also provide satellite images. Asked by the BBC, the first said to study “the possibilities of refreshing its satellite images as higher resolution images are available”, but that he had “no project to share for the moment”. The apple brand has meanwhile said it is working on an upcoming update of its maps, now with a higher resolution of 40 centimeters.


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