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The CIA Is Sharing Declassified Maps
- Cieplak 10y agoI'm really curious why this 14 mile strip of Antarctica is censored: https://www.google.com/maps/place/70%C2%B010'04.0%22S+87%C2%B043'57.5%22E/@-70.1507513,87.6467429,19851m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-70.1677778!4d87.7326389 https://www.google.com/maps/place/70%C2%B010'04.0%22S+87%C2%... Satellite map images with missing or unclear data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_map_images_with_missing_or_unclear_data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_map_images_with_miss...
- arca_vorago 10y agoGoogle will censor just about anything if a government asks them to and claims it's for national security. Hell, they even do it for the uber-rich independent of government.
- Cieplak 10y agoI'm pretty sure that any US person or organization that doesn't comply with matters supposedly pertaining to national security will go the way of Joe Nacchio and Qwest.
- losteverything 10y agoWhat. A telcon guy or gal here???
- tunap 10y agoFife Symington concurs. Although, "security" has nothing to do with it. You are either "in" or you're "out". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife_Symington#Second_term_.281995.E2.80.931997.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fife_Symington#Second_term_.28...
- rdtsc 10y agoThen in case of countries, those which allow Google to operate on their territory will often threaten Google to prevent it from operating there if Google doesn't censor certain parts. Here is a list of known censored bits on satellite maps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_map_images_with_missing_or_unclear_data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_map_images_with_miss...
- burkaman 10y agoPretty sure you don't need to be uber-rich. Anyone can get their house censored if they ask nicely.
- westmeal 10y agoThat's pretty spooky. It's most likely some military complex.
- knz 10y agoSurely it's related to communication interception? Either for the Pacific/Southern Ocean or on the Antarctic continent. Or a giant ruse to divert attention from elsewhere.
- Veratyr 10y agoI'm not sure that's censored, at least by Google, I think it's just bad data. The copyright at higher zooms is shown as NASA, which would have used Landsat. In the Landsat archive, there are numerous satellite images for that region, though low quality: https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/viewer.html https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/viewer.html Seems likely nobody at Google has taken the effort to do anything about it because who uses Google Maps to look at antarctica? To those saying it's a military installation or SIGINT thing, I very very seriously doubt it. The Antarctic Treaty explicitly forbids military activity and an installation might be blockable by Google Maps but no one country has a monopoly on imaging satellites. It'd be seen and start a diplomatic shitstorm.
- yakshaving_jgt 10y agoSecret military installations in Antarctica is not unfathomable. You should read this: http://idlewords.com/2016/05/shuffleboard_at_mcmurdo.htm http://idlewords.com/2016/05/shuffleboard_at_mcmurdo.htm
- Cieplak 10y agoIt could also be a mine or refinery. In this interview, Admiral Byrd says there are significant coal, oil and Uranium deposits (skip to 7m30s): https://youtube.com/watch?v=czW0iRJuH1A https://youtube.com/watch?v=czW0iRJuH1A
- wbl 10y agoAnd where is the bulk or oil terminal? It's impossible to conceal that much shipping.
- unixhero 10y agoI love diplomatic shitstorms.
- topkekz 10y agoalso censored on https://zoom.earth/#-70.166939,87.824707,11z,sat https://zoom.earth/#-70.166939,87.824707,11z,sat
- 7952 10y agoI would guess that this was a gap in coverage from one source of data, that was filled in with data from another. The edges just try and blend the two sources together.
- rhizome 10y agoThe maps: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/albums https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/albums
- rdtsc 10y agoRelated is the story of Soviet maps. The Soviets had engaged in a monumental effort to map the world and then during the collapse in one of the republics the classified stack of maps got in the hands of Westerners: https://www.sovietmaps.com/ https://www.sovietmaps.com/ Here is a longer article about it: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps/ https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps/ And also the map of San Francisco from the 80s: http://i.imgur.com/SdmmFUd.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SdmmFUd.jpg
- guard-of-terra 10y ago1980s CIA album has map of central Moscow. On it, subway stations and embassies are marked (that's the expected), gas stations (okay) and also churches (what's weird). Nothing more, just embassies and churches. Would like to hear a story here. Baghdad's 2003 map has basically the same set of POI.
- grzm 10y agoIs that typical of all cities? How about Paris? Rio? Tokyo? Have a link? I'd like to take a look.
- guard-of-terra 10y agohttps://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/30849056096/in/album-72157674886243461/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/30849056096/in/album-72... If it's a tourist map then probably so, but I assume CIA would like to see something more substantial on their map. They're not in for the sights are they?
- borgdr 10y agoI'm a bit surprised that this one was declassified given the sensitive nature of the content. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/5988128522/in/album-72157632812220423/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/5988128522/in/album-721...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Karunamon 10y agoWait, was this actually classified to begin with? If so, it's a case study in how that power is misused...
- shthed 10y agoRammo plays with a stick. For more information on the CIA, visit www.cia.gov.
- moftz 10y agoThe dog is probably one of the bomb-sniffing dogs that work at a CIA building or campus. Any information about the security for CIA locations, I'm assuming, is going to be very well protected information so this is going to include any pictures of the security forces. The picture is just a dog chewing on a stick but the dog is part of the security force and therefore the picture becomes classified. It probably didn't need to be classified. We aren't using some sort of super advanced, secret machine to detect bombs, it's a regular yellow lab. It was probably included in a bunch of pictures that included information regarding the tactics or tools available to the security forces or pictures of secured areas (that aren't generic grassy areas) so the whole group was classified.
- colinthompson 10y agoThese are incredible. I'm especially impressed with how high res the scans are. Time for some new office posters!
- jacobolus 10y agoSweet planimeter a ways down the page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/sets/72157674852500522 https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov/sets/72157674852500522
- fafner 10y agoHave they been uploaded to Wikipedia (Commons)?