AgProv
Doctor of Disorientation Studies, UnseenUniversity
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,342
- Location
- too North to be Midlands, too south to be North
I was using Google Earth to research a short story set in California; I wanted a "wilderness spot" within reasonable travelling distance of Pasadena. i found a place that looked good about 50-60 miles east of the city and zoomed in, only to find Lake Arrowhead was ringed about with homes and development on all sides - hardly wilderness. Just about to move on, I found, in the forest to the west, what looks like a 120 foot wide radio telescope/radar dish, with associated buildings on a three or four acre site. Even though there's a car park with cars in it, I could not find any trace of an access road linking it to nearby main roads. Still stranger, when I switch from satellite to map view, it becomes a blank space and disappears. i can find no reference to any civilian radio telescope in this area - my first association was to to Caltech, Berkely, UCLA, et c. Nor can I find a declared military installation. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this and nothing sinister, but it piques my interest. The location is north of Sam Bernadino, about three miles west of Lake Arrowhead, and one mile north of Lake Gregory; Houston Creek and Dart Creek are just north. Nearest roads are Zermatt Drive to the south, and North Dart Canyon Road several miles north.
The question is - does Google Earth find itself constrained or coerced into "covering up", or at least, not drawing attention to, military installations or secretive government facilities? If in theory everything on the surface of the planet is available through satellite imagery, this must cause gov't a few headaches. Perhaps the clever way is not to censor the images - just to let them hide in plain sight and go unremarked. But you might also make it difficult to locate further information through search engines?
Has anyone studied this and could point me in the direction of any discussions, studies, debates, et c? Thanks!
The question is - does Google Earth find itself constrained or coerced into "covering up", or at least, not drawing attention to, military installations or secretive government facilities? If in theory everything on the surface of the planet is available through satellite imagery, this must cause gov't a few headaches. Perhaps the clever way is not to censor the images - just to let them hide in plain sight and go unremarked. But you might also make it difficult to locate further information through search engines?
Has anyone studied this and could point me in the direction of any discussions, studies, debates, et c? Thanks!