Is this a secret base of some kind?

[Rolci]

I have tried looking on the net but did not find anything at all as to what this might be. It's 64 54 n 87 52 w here's a picture of it.

First impression is that it's a giant magnet, you can see the forcefield around it, also note that to the north and south, just inside the circles the water is frozen for some reason, whereas everywhere else, e.g. to the west no trace of ice is to be found. There is a national park to the north, so there must be a way to get there. Anyone living nearby or being able to drive there? Or any ideas?

Edited April 7, 2012 by Rolci

[Lilly]

My guess: It's a JPEG artifact see wiki explanation here.

[.AKUMA.]

I have tried looking on the net but did not find anything at all as to what this might be. It's 64 54 n 87 52 w here's a picture of it.

First impression is that it's a giant magnet, you can see the forcefield around it, also note that to the north and south, just inside the circles the water is frozen for some reason, whereas everywhere else, e.g. to the west no trace of ice is to be found. There is a national park to the north, so there must be a way to get there. Anyone living nearby or being able to drive there? Or any ideas?

How did you manage to perceive a blurry strip of unmapped terrain to be a giant magnet with force fields?

[mrbusdriver]

That's a real stretch there...

It's northern Canada, where lakes are frozen over most of the year. Probably a lot of snow around as well. That the rectangle is out of focus doesn't mean anything, there are lots of those anomolies around in GE.

I was actually stationed up in those cold climes for a year (Cape Dyer), beautiful area, but cold.

I wouldn't get worked up over it...

[Eldorado]

BINGO!

"There are a few most likely reasons for this.

1- No high resolution imagery has been taken of the area in question. First of all, satellites have different quality capabilities. Also, the companies that take the images are not going to take and process high resolution images of areas unless they believe enough people/companies will want to buy them.

2- High resolution images were taken of an area but came out poorly due to cloud cover. (if you ever turn on GE's weather cloud layer, you'll see that on any given day, a lot of the earth is covered by clouds.)

3-High resolution images of an area exist but whatever company or entity owns them wants too much money from Google to license them. You have to keep in mind that GE is provided free by Google to most users.

Also, the very clear/close pictures that you see of certain areas are usually shot from airplanes, not satellites, as a special purchase."

http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/earth/problems-and-errors/Pq8L-6SbRvE

[Space Commander Travis]

That'sprobably just a patch that's at lower resolution than the rest of it, there's probably nothing there to make it worth zooming in on.

[booNyzarC]

Oh drat, you've found my secret base. I guess I'll have to move again.

Curse you Google Earth!!!

[bLu3 de 3n3rgy]

That'sprobably just a patch that's at lower resolution than the rest of it, there's probably nothing there to make it worth zooming in on.

Or it's exactly why it's patched out because it is of interest to someone either protecting what is there or deemed senstive. If you have ever requested your property be removed from Google Maps, that's what they 'have' to do. Patch/blur it out lol. Just saying.

Edited April 8, 2012 by AnVil

[Coffey]

If there was a secret base anywhere in the world that someone didn't want you to know about... You wouldn't be able to tell from google maps. Think about it.

[Obviousman]

If there was a secret base anywhere in the world that someone didn't want you to know about... You wouldn't be able to tell from google maps. Think about it.

Exactly. If there are "secret bases" (and there probably are few by various governments) then they are well aware of satellite photography and will have their installations well hidden. You be looking right at it with Google and not realise you are looking at anything of interest.

Blurring out a spot on Google is like saying "Look At Me!".

Edited April 27, 2012 by Obviousman

[Czero 101]

Exactly. If there are "secret bases" (and there probably are few by various governments) then they are well aware of satellite photography and will have their installations well hidden. You be looking right at it with Google and not realise you are looking at anything of interest.

Blurring out a spot on Google is like saying "Look At Me!".

True... but then again, the US Gov't didn't acknowledge that "Area 51" even existed until June 2003, despite aerial and satellite imagery of the Groom Lake area showing details of the base being publicly available at the time.

Cz

[Obviousman]

Well, Area 51 might be called a bit of an exemption. It was known for years, people could look at it from the mountains. It is an interesting discussion point, though.