[Jeff Head]

Sad thing is, US military bases are equally revealing, showing structures, berths, dry docks, vessels, and giving the exact latitude and longitude readings that would make smart weapon targeting very easy. A country without sufficient resource has an on-the-cheap military satellite system for targeting and analysis built into Google earth.

IMHO, the department of defense should require goolge earth to blur out pictures of our vital bases post haste .

[cripplecreek]

the department of defense should require goolge earth to blur out pictures of our vital bases post haste.

Then China will just buy photos from someone else if they want it. It's just the reality of the modern world.

[Toddsterpatriot]

A target rich environment!

[Disambiguator]

Vely intelesting.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Interesting.

When I view my home on Google Earth a power plant in our area is blurred out. I just presumed it would be the same for U.S. Military bases.

[Brilliant]

It looks like they painted a bullseye on the deck of that aircraft carrier for us to aim at.



I predict that when the Chicoms see these photos, Google will be persona nongrata in Beijing.

[TruthWillWin]

Too bad Google earth satellite images are not more current. Know images I've viewed are about 3 years old.

[onedoug]

Great pix, JH. Thanks.

sc,w, ping.

[discostu]

Google Earth picks tend to be a minimum of 4 years old, sure they might help targeting some but you have no idea what's changed between then and now. And it's not like they're the only source for this old data, they've just compiled stuff that already in the public domain and put it in a sexy UI.

[STD]

Hi Jeff,

Using these coordinates is quite another thing. On our GPS sats there is a signal that's in the clear and another sub-band message. While one is transmitted in the clear the other is for DOD use only. The system is set-up to cut off the signal that's available to the public and only transmit the DOD message during a time of war.
This is why the Europeans are setting up a network of their very own. Milsat is a completely different system than GPS BTW.

[grjr21]

There is an interesting  article at The Register 

Google Earth threatens democracy

Military hardware laid bare to Godless commies

I thought I had posted it here but a search couldn't come up with it

[jiggyboy]

Does google get their images from one source or from multiple sources? Many pictures from Silicon Valley are so sharp that you can clearly see individual cars in intersections. But pictures of the area where I grew up are at such a poor resolution that you can't even tell where the high school's football field is.

[Lazamataz]

You do know that google earth is not a live feed, don't you? These are deliciously old pictures.

[Antoninus]

Cool. I tried to do exactly this with the Beta version several months ago with no luck.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Not exactly. I can stand in Norfolk VA harbor in my two-bit open boat and get GPS locations more accurate.

What you should have noticed is that there were SO FEW ships present.

What matters is real-time intelligence: if the Chinese ships (on average were 90% in port up until a week ago), but now are 90% at sea, THEN the implication is frightening, particularly if they spent the prior two months loading ammo and missiles.

If a dock that sat empty for 7 years is one constantly mooring two or 4 ships now, then you can begin drawing conclusions about re-deploying assets to an area where they might attack.

[Caesar Soze]

The genie's already out of the bottle. How are you going to blur out images of our vital bases ... that potential enemies saw and saved in their files years ago?

[Wolfstar]

IMHO, the department of defense should require goolge earth to blur out pictures of our vital bases post haste.

NASA has similar downloadable satellite image software. It's called World Wind. This is a link to the World Wind website.

I plan to download it this weekend and, if I like it, will probably delete Google Earth.

[TheBattman]

If such images are available to the public, imagine what our military has....

But one thing about your concern... Keep in mind that the Google Earth photos are not "live" or "streaming". Those pictures are likely months or even years old.

Yes, the specific location of said facilities can be found, but equipment, ships, missiles, etc. can be moved.

[CDHart]

I downloaded the free version of Google Earth and I can't figure out how to use it. I can't even find an icon or the program on the program list. I know this must sound really stupid, but how do I start it up?

Carolyn

[BaBaStooey]

I had a cousin who worked for the Dept. of Homeland Security, who once called another relative and asked them to walk outside and wave up at the sky.

Suffice it to say the technology our guys are using is much better than Google Earth.

[Sensei Ern]

I wish someone with the time and knowledge would use Google Earth to build presentations of major battles, such as showing the movements of troops during the battle of Stalingrad.