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Satellite imagery can't achieve resolutions needed to identify people. It is physically impossible. Especially so when slewed at an angle necessary to see faces

Satellite imagery can't achieve resolutions needed to identify people. It is physically impossible. Especially so when slewed at an angle necessary to see faces.

getcrunk 4y ago
Sure, but it’s still enough to uniquely track them. You can math identities separately.
randyrand 4y ago
Are you sure it’s physically unlawful? I thought it you have a camera the size of a small country you can increase resolution quite a bit more.
- notahacker 4y ago
  The spatial resolution of the current state of the art satellite images have pixels the size of a person's head. They're taking photos from a very, very long way away. And even if they resolved that particular problem, most people would struggle to recognise most other people by looking only at the top of their head and shoulders from almost directly above...
autoexec 4y ago
> Satellite imagery can't achieve resolutions needed to identify people. It is physically impossible. Are you sure? They were talking about commercial satellites seeing dinner plates in back in 2014 (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/latest-commercial-satellite-can-see-dinner-plate-space-1-180952357/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/latest-commercial-...) and seeing cell phones from space in 2015 (https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-resolution-keeps-improving-2015-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-resolution-k...) and AI could help turn even blurry faces into clear images (https://trinity.duke.edu/news/artificial-intelligence-makes-blurry-faces-look-more-60-times-sharper https://trinity.duke.edu/news/artificial-intelligence-makes-...) I suspect that if the ability to identify people doesn't already exist in military satellites, it will very very soon.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
  25cm is the allowed limit for commercial satellites. That isn't enough to identify anyone. The atmosphere limits the best possible resolution to not significantly better. Imaging off axis through a longer column of air makes everything worse.

Satellite imagery can't achieve resolutions needed to identify people. It is physically impossible. Especially so when slewed at an angle necessary to see faces.

getcrunk 4y ago

Sure, but it’s still enough to uniquely track them. You can math identities separately.

randyrand 4y ago

Are you sure it’s physically unlawful? I thought it you have a camera the size of a small country you can increase resolution quite a bit more.

notahacker 4y ago
The spatial resolution of the current state of the art satellite images have pixels the size of a person's head. They're taking photos from a very, very long way away. And even if they resolved that particular problem, most people would struggle to recognise most other people by looking only at the top of their head and shoulders from almost directly above...

autoexec 4y ago

> Satellite imagery can't achieve resolutions needed to identify people. It is physically impossible. Are you sure? They were talking about commercial satellites seeing dinner plates in back in 2014 (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/latest-commercial-satellite-can-see-dinner-plate-space-1-180952357/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/latest-commercial-...) and seeing cell phones from space in 2015 (https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-resolution-keeps-improving-2015-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-resolution-k...) and AI could help turn even blurry faces into clear images (https://trinity.duke.edu/news/artificial-intelligence-makes-blurry-faces-look-more-60-times-sharper https://trinity.duke.edu/news/artificial-intelligence-makes-...) I suspect that if the ability to identify people doesn't already exist in military satellites, it will very very soon.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
25cm is the allowed limit for commercial satellites. That isn't enough to identify anyone. The atmosphere limits the best possible resolution to not significantly better. Imaging off axis through a longer column of air makes everything worse.