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866-RON-0-FEZ 1 days ago [-]
Well there is a very contentious mayoral election going on in LA right now, and the fires are a central topic.
Concealing the fire damage could be used to influence or thwart campaign messaging.
Not that Google has been caught doing anything political before...
neuronexmachina 1 days ago [-]
Altadena is part of unincorporated LA County, they don't vote in the City of Los Angeles elections.
kjkjadksj 1 days ago [-]
Palisades fire damage has also been removed from the mapping.
ikr678 20 hours ago [-]
Must only be for US users.
When I look at it from Australia the Palisades damage is still there.
Altadena also shows mostly vacant and cleared lots.
palmotea 1 days ago [-]
> Well there is a very contentious mayoral election going on in LA right now, and the fires are a central topic.
> Concealing the fire damage could be used to influence or thwart campaign messaging.
I know nothing about that election, but what would be Google's angle in wanting to influence it?
OkayPhysicist 1 days ago [-]
Google has two campuses in LA. They have at least some vested interest in local politics being friendly to them.
buckle8017 1 days ago [-]
Google likely doesn't have an angle, but the person who decided to make this change maybe does.
selectodude 1 days ago [-]
There’s plenty of evidence of the ineptitude and corruption of the Los Angeles government located in the actual city. I don’t think anybody in LA is hinging a vote on the rebuilding process in Alta Dena.
brookst 1 days ago [-]
Is there any evidence of such an elaborate scheme? Are voters looking on Google Maps to validate claims about the fires, in some kind of mass trend that produces evidence?
Because it really sounds like a conspiracy theory draped over a pretty tangential fact. But I’d love to be wrong if there is evidence (“Google did something totally different but also bad” is not evidence).
trunkiedozer 1 days ago [-]
[flagged]
skobes 1 days ago [-]
The map tile backend is in the middle of a multi year effort to migrate from the Flippity Service to the Floopity Service. The FlippityFlooper was believed to have finished the necessary format conversions for all map tiles in the US and Canada but 5% of the data sources were missed due to a bug that was discovered after the creator of FlippityFlooper had been promoted and changed teams, so those Floopity tiles are filled in from an older source. A junior engineer vibe-coded a stopgap fallback called FloopityFlipper that redirects to legacy Flippity Service when Floopity staleness is detected, but that redirect broke three months later due to a change in an injected dependency's experiment configuration. A bug was auto-filed and marked P2 by an overworked product manager who slightly misunderstood the scope, but the FloopityFlipper engineer will probably have a look once they are back from paternity leave.
I made all of that up but it's more plausible than conspiracy theories.
trunkiedozer 1 days ago [-]
[dead]
redsocksfan45 1 days ago [-]
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trashb 1 days ago [-]
Google is not flying over the area itself right? perhaps they where using source maps with some sort of license agreement and the license expired, or there was a dispute.
It seems to me that it is in the favor of Google to gather the most up-to date maps, even if they can offer them in a limited window.
I wonder if the same is true for Google Earth, since I believe that uses higher quality / different maps in a lot of area's. (don't have it so I can't check)
bastawhiz 1 days ago [-]
This was my first thought. The simplest explanation is that they lost access to the recent imagery. If you were going to build a system like this, you'd show the most recent imagery for an area that you have access to. If one of your license agreements ends, it might mean you end up showing less desirable data, but at least you're showing data.
paganel 1 days ago [-]
> The simplest explanation is that they lost access to the recent imagery. I
Reasonable explanation, but they didn't, for example this is the Google Earth link [1] with satellite imagery of the area from back in September 2025, the most recent satellite imagery they seem to have from there. The fire damage can clearly be seen. So there must be some other reason behind it.
As the sibling comment noted, Earth is a different product. If your license pays out by tiles served, Earth is far cheaper to service. Maps is in phones, cars, website contact pages, third party apps, etc. Multiple orders of magnitude more exposure.
trashb 1 days ago [-]
As I understand it Google earth and Google maps are two separate products. And Google earth is the more premium product (more data and features accessable), therefore perhaps the licenses are separately negotiated?
MisterMower 21 hours ago [-]
Occam’s razor would suggest someone at Google took it down. I’m not sure we need to reach for convoluted explanations to explain things.
h1fra 1 days ago [-]
Not entirely related, but Google Maps is still showing satellite images from 5 years ago in Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world, and it's not even updated once a year. I don't get it.
namibj 1 days ago [-]
In Germany it seems to have moved to the 3D photogrammetry data for anything with pixel sizes smaller than a car; is that maybe also the case for Paris?
I do understand that it's sad they don't calculate orthographic images from that to replace their satellite views in these areas though; full 3D is severely more resource intensive on the client after all.
winkelmann 17 hours ago [-]
The most unfortunate thing about Google's 3D photogrammetry is that they don't allow you to view historical captures, as they only serve the flattened 2D version there. For the time being, the only resource for these captures are various Microsoft Flight Simulator addons where people dumped Google's photogrammetry data to add scenery not included in the built-in photogrammetry coverage.
moondowner 1 days ago [-]
Many similar cases accross Europe.
Visited Lisboa last summer, the building where I booked an apartment was not even there in Google Maps, satellite image data was showing a leveled site with some dumpsters.
Just checked and the images are still the same old ones...
alopha 1 days ago [-]
There's no promo packet material in spending money on making the product a bit better with up to date imagery so why would anyone bother?
brainwad 1 days ago [-]
Half the company is happy coasting at their level and isn't even trying for promo.
spwa4 1 days ago [-]
And the top of Google is laying off anyone who spends a dime that isn't triple-justified.
1 days ago [-]
dude250711 1 days ago [-]
How about Gemini Maps? Maps that fill the gaps!
dude250711 1 days ago [-]
Oh wait, it's already in progress... Nevermind.
izacus 1 days ago [-]
I'm sure they can't wait to work on your personal pet peeve and get that sweet promo endorsement just from you.
(Seriously, it's not like anyone here is paying a cent to use GMaps.)
kevin_thibedeau 1 days ago [-]
That is aerial imagery and Paris is a major metro that gets the 3D treatment. I wouldn't expect them to update that regularly.
zoltanbalazs 1 days ago [-]
I found that Google Maps also shows ~5 year old satellite images in Budapest, even though the copyright in the bottom right would tell otherwise.
BUT if you toggle globe view, you get a more recent satellite image that seems to actually match the copyright date.
(It can be toggled in Layers -> More, at the bottom, when on a desktop, not sure about the app)
x187463 1 days ago [-]
I've been finding a lot of ~5 year old satellite and street view data. It's only anecdotal, but it seems like Google is not updating their imagery as often as they used to.
is_true 1 days ago [-]
Probably because it makes sense to be building AI related stuff, so no one is working on that.
They even used to have an option to get notifications when new images for an area became available.
The latest update (that i made, i only update when asked) to the app doesn't allow to disable the suggestions anymore, before if you tapped twice everything except the map and your location disappeared.
rurp 1 days ago [-]
Does anyone know of a good service for getting more up to date satellite images that can be used with other software, such as a tile server, vector map, or similar?
I'm looking for some personal projects and have had trouble finding anything in the middle ground between free and enterprise offerings. I don't mind paying a modest amount but something like Planet is beyond my budget, unless they have some personal tier I'm not aware of.
jakeydus 1 days ago [-]
ArcGIS Location Platform is a pay-as-you-go solution and their APIs are very generously priced IME.
rurp 1 days ago [-]
Thank you, that looks excellent.
mrasong 1 days ago [-]
That’s pretty strange. I wonder if Altadena restricted Google from updating the map imagery?
altairprime 21 hours ago [-]
Perhaps they were subpoena’d to provide data to an insurance dispute and decided they’d rather not?
Eonexus 1 days ago [-]
I wonder if there actually does exist updated to-the-minute imagery of various places, just not from sources publicly available on platforms like Google Maps?
verzali 1 days ago [-]
Yes, you can buy it from commercial providers like Planet or even Airbus. They update a few times a day, though depending on the place you are interested in, you may need to put in a request for them to image it.
Its actually not that difficult. I used to fly a satellite that could photograph anywhere in the world at least once every few days.
bradleykingz 1 days ago [-]
fly a satellite? how?
verzali 1 days ago [-]
Mostly by sitting at a computer and typing commands...
Dunno why we say fly, but maybe you prefer operate? Though, funny story, one of my sats had wings and was supposed to demonstrate VLEO flight.
ares623 1 days ago [-]
It must be quite valuable data. One anecdote I heard/read somewhere was that firms often use satellite imagery of parking lots (over time, as one measure among others) to gauge how popular a place is. I don't know if it's true or not.
noir_lord 1 days ago [-]
It's true and they go a lot further hunting signals that people without their resources simply can't.
They have the resources to spend (to them) a small amount to confirm/check a play before they make it, it's been a thing since commercial satellite imaging became a thing.
Hell the (somewhat terrible but somehow enjoyable) TV show Billions had it as a plot point years ago.
drbscl 1 days ago [-]
Similarly, I listened to a talk from someone who used to perform analysis of aerial images of farmland to estimate yields at harvest, which would then be used to trade in the futures market.
dylan604 1 days ago [-]
I wonder what the licensing fees for this type of imagery one could earn. Consider the cost of renting a plane and equipment for this type of footage and then the data management later. Would you be able to recoup that expense?
bflesch 1 days ago [-]
Maps are extremely political.
For Epstein island the US government has scrubbed/redated large periods of historic satellite imagery in order to hide construction of underground structures on each corner of the island. Chinese equivalents of Google earth offer clear images of different construction stages that the "US Coast Guard" prefers to hide.
If you check different satellite imagery providers it's always interesting to see what time periods are even available (paid or free), and if the imagery from an earlier date has been re-labeled to suggest it was taken at a later date.
Havoc 1 days ago [-]
Why would the island need underground structures at each corner?
Almondsetat 1 days ago [-]
Backup power generators? Security control room? There are tens of reasons why you'd put some parts of your estate underground
Havoc 1 days ago [-]
>why you'd put some parts of your estate underground
My question was more about the specific combination of 1) underground 2) in each corner.
I can come up with a plausible reason for either, but not in combination
bflesch 1 days ago [-]
I guess it's storage, sensors and microwave links. On one corner you can see a concrete pad where a small boat can land unseen from the mainland. There are some official helicopter flyby videos but all of them fail to capture this one particular side of the island.
It's like a CIA naval base for drug smuggling.
rokkamokka 1 days ago [-]
I assume for the more depraved shit they wanted extra privacy for?
bflesch 1 days ago [-]
Only the US government can answer this. I think it involves smuggling of prohibited goods.
RankingMember 1 days ago [-]
How deep could an underground structure even be on the corner of an island?
Concealing the fire damage could be used to influence or thwart campaign messaging.
Not that Google has been caught doing anything political before...
> Concealing the fire damage could be used to influence or thwart campaign messaging.
I know nothing about that election, but what would be Google's angle in wanting to influence it?
Because it really sounds like a conspiracy theory draped over a pretty tangential fact. But I’d love to be wrong if there is evidence (“Google did something totally different but also bad” is not evidence).
I made all of that up but it's more plausible than conspiracy theories.
It seems to me that it is in the favor of Google to gather the most up-to date maps, even if they can offer them in a limited window.
I wonder if the same is true for Google Earth, since I believe that uses higher quality / different maps in a lot of area's. (don't have it so I can't check)
Reasonable explanation, but they didn't, for example this is the Google Earth link [1] with satellite imagery of the area from back in September 2025, the most recent satellite imagery they seem to have from there. The fire damage can clearly be seen. So there must be some other reason behind it.
[1] https://earth.google.com/web/search/Altadena,+CA,+USA/@34.19...
I do understand that it's sad they don't calculate orthographic images from that to replace their satellite views in these areas though; full 3D is severely more resource intensive on the client after all.
Visited Lisboa last summer, the building where I booked an apartment was not even there in Google Maps, satellite image data was showing a leveled site with some dumpsters.
Just checked and the images are still the same old ones...
(Seriously, it's not like anyone here is paying a cent to use GMaps.)
They even used to have an option to get notifications when new images for an area became available.
The latest update (that i made, i only update when asked) to the app doesn't allow to disable the suggestions anymore, before if you tapped twice everything except the map and your location disappeared.
I'm looking for some personal projects and have had trouble finding anything in the middle ground between free and enterprise offerings. I don't mind paying a modest amount but something like Planet is beyond my budget, unless they have some personal tier I'm not aware of.
Its actually not that difficult. I used to fly a satellite that could photograph anywhere in the world at least once every few days.
Dunno why we say fly, but maybe you prefer operate? Though, funny story, one of my sats had wings and was supposed to demonstrate VLEO flight.
https://www.financial-news.co.uk/how-hedge-funds-are-using-s...
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/10/investing/hedge-fund-dron...
They have the resources to spend (to them) a small amount to confirm/check a play before they make it, it's been a thing since commercial satellite imaging became a thing.
Hell the (somewhat terrible but somehow enjoyable) TV show Billions had it as a plot point years ago.
For Epstein island the US government has scrubbed/redated large periods of historic satellite imagery in order to hide construction of underground structures on each corner of the island. Chinese equivalents of Google earth offer clear images of different construction stages that the "US Coast Guard" prefers to hide.
If you check different satellite imagery providers it's always interesting to see what time periods are even available (paid or free), and if the imagery from an earlier date has been re-labeled to suggest it was taken at a later date.
My question was more about the specific combination of 1) underground 2) in each corner.
I can come up with a plausible reason for either, but not in combination
It's like a CIA naval base for drug smuggling.