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I'm no sympathizer to the CCP, but I don't think this argument makes sense in our time. There's a big gap between a private individual looking around, and lots

I'm no sympathizer to the CCP, but I don't think this argument makes sense in our time. There's a big gap between a private individual looking around, and lots of private individuals coordinating to look at everything all the time. Modern technology is making that gap larger year after year.

whatshisface 5y ago
That argument would be more appropriate if OSM was about something other than where the streets went.
- morio 5y ago
  Sadly anything can be politicized these days.
- int_19h 5y ago
  USSR/Russia also had a very long history of restrictions on accurate maps (of just about anything!), on the basis that it is a national security threat if the country ever gets invaded. Street-level maps were broadly available but deliberately falsified: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-maps-were-faked-for-50-years.html https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-... Detailed (<1:2500000) topographic maps were automatically classified as a state secret, and restricted on a "need to know" basis outside of the military until 1989. A detailed article on this explaining how and why they went about it: http://www.hundzor.org/lj/10postnikov.pdf http://www.hundzor.org/lj/10postnikov.pdf
  - seniorivn 5y ago
    funnily enough correct and detailed maps of ussr were available in nato countries
  - aivisol 5y ago
    True, and people knew it. I used to travel on the bicycle with the help of USSR maps made in early eighties (due to unavailability of other options), and yes, what you saw on the map was sometimes very different from what was in the real life, especially if you were close to the external border.
- robotresearcher 5y ago
  Until 2000, the US reduced the accuracy of GPS for civilian applications. The UK removed street signs and railway station names in anticipation of German invasion in WWII. Kuwaitis removed street signs when Iraq invaded in 1990. 'Where the streets go' is strategically valuable information.
  - hermitdev 5y ago
    My understanding is that the resolution of commercially available satellite imagery is restricted by the US. I don't recall details, just passing references from the show "What on Earth?"
    - nradov 5y ago
      Commercial satellite operators licensed in the US are restricted to no more than 25 cm imagery resolution. Of course that limit doesn't apply to foreign operators. And it doesn't apply to aircraft either; many of the "satellite" images you see on Google Maps were actually shot from airplanes.

whatshisface 5y ago

That argument would be more appropriate if OSM was about something other than where the streets went.

morio 5y ago
Sadly anything can be politicized these days.
int_19h 5y ago
USSR/Russia also had a very long history of restrictions on accurate maps (of just about anything!), on the basis that it is a national security threat if the country ever gets invaded. Street-level maps were broadly available but deliberately falsified: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-maps-were-faked-for-50-years.html https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-... Detailed (<1:2500000) topographic maps were automatically classified as a state secret, and restricted on a "need to know" basis outside of the military until 1989. A detailed article on this explaining how and why they went about it: http://www.hundzor.org/lj/10postnikov.pdf http://www.hundzor.org/lj/10postnikov.pdf
- seniorivn 5y ago
  funnily enough correct and detailed maps of ussr were available in nato countries
- aivisol 5y ago
  True, and people knew it. I used to travel on the bicycle with the help of USSR maps made in early eighties (due to unavailability of other options), and yes, what you saw on the map was sometimes very different from what was in the real life, especially if you were close to the external border.
robotresearcher 5y ago
Until 2000, the US reduced the accuracy of GPS for civilian applications. The UK removed street signs and railway station names in anticipation of German invasion in WWII. Kuwaitis removed street signs when Iraq invaded in 1990. 'Where the streets go' is strategically valuable information.
- hermitdev 5y ago
  My understanding is that the resolution of commercially available satellite imagery is restricted by the US. I don't recall details, just passing references from the show "What on Earth?"
  - nradov 5y ago
    Commercial satellite operators licensed in the US are restricted to no more than 25 cm imagery resolution. Of course that limit doesn't apply to foreign operators. And it doesn't apply to aircraft either; many of the "satellite" images you see on Google Maps were actually shot from airplanes.