One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the vice president of the United States, has mysteriously reappeared, clearly, in Google Earth imagery.
The home has been impossible to view since former US vice president Dick Cheney moved in, blurred by pixelation, but January 18 the imagery cleared up. Google has never admitted to purposely blurring the image, but when a clear view of the home appears the same week Cheney moves out and new VP Joe Biden moves in, you have to wonder.
A spokesperson for Google told the Los Angeles Times the change is pure coincidence:
“Google Earth and Google Maps are regularly updated as new imagery becomes available,” a spokeswoman for Google Inc. said Monday. “Our most recent update, which went live last week, included updated imagery of the Washington, D.C., area from several providers.”
Google’s aerial images come from third-party suppliers, the spokeswoman said — “some of which may blur images before they provide them to Google.”
She also went on to say the old imagery was provided by the US Geological Survey while the new images are provided by DigitalGlobe.
Even if the image was purposely altered when Cheney was VP you can’t blame Google. Do it for one person, do it for everyone-or so the saying goes. Google Earth and Google Maps wouldn’t do anyone much good completely blurry.
via latimes
