Teh One Who Knocks
02-10-2016, 01:21 PM
By Jon Austin - The Express
http://i.imgur.com/pPn4vI3.jpg
GOOGLE Earth may have brought the world to your living room, but like so many things in life it does not appear to be a case of access all areas.
Large areas that have been blurred or pixelated out contain sensitive and top secret sites that the corporation has hidden at the request of world leaders, according to conspiracy theorists.
But now a list of some of the most puzzling omissions has now appeared online.
1) Secret closed cities of Siberia, Russia
http://i.imgur.com/yxHm3Th.jpg
Conspiracists believe this blur could be hiding a secret city
A huge area of Russia in the Siberian tundra is heavily blurred with no certain explanation why.
The nearest populated area is the city of Egvekinot.
Some conspiracy theorists claim the blurring may obscure a large closed city from which its residents cannot leave, and others cannot venture inside.
It emerged in the 1980s that there were dozens of closed cities - tightly control relics of the Soviet era where residents lived behind barbed-wire fences - with more than one million people living in them.
They were used as places for secretive military and other testing, some of which continued following the fall of the Berlin wall.
Some have gradually opened up, but it is said that many people still live there in complete isolation from the rest of the country and the outside world and unable to leave.
2) Haarp site on the Washington-Oregon border
http://i.imgur.com/cDmJnrq.jpg
The Haarp site obscured on Google Earth
The Haarp (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) was a US military scientific project which has spawned more conspiracies than the Large Hadron Collider.
It was established by the US Air Force to study the Earth's ionosphere - a highly charged and active part of the upper atmosphere.
But many conspiracists always claimed it was a cover for secretive tests to control the weather or even to research "captured UFO technology".
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez said in 2010 Haarp may have caused the Haiti earthquake.
The air force ended the project in 2014, but some claim it continues
Blurring it from Google Earth will only fuel the conspiracies.
3) The Volkel air base, the Netherlands
http://i.imgur.com/eW69BiM.jpg
Camoflauged: The Volkel air base, the Netherlands
This site, at the centre of many claims about storage of US nuclear bombs has been obscured on Google Earth.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has previously claimed there are 22 US nuclear bombs stored in the bunkers of the air base.
These were said to include B61 thermonuclear bombs and a bomb apparently four times as powerful as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.
According to US diplomatic files, which appeared on Wikileaks, atomic weapons were stored by the US in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Turkey.
4) The Százhalombatta Oil Refinery in Hungary
http://i.imgur.com/qAqsNos.jpg
Wot no Százhalombatta Oil Refinery
This site has been coloured green on Google Earth.
Many of its building and grounds were also removed, but with no explanation.
Much of the green appears to just cover a neighbouring area of grass.
Some suggest camouflaging the site may be to proven terrorists planning a strike on the facelift.
5) Portlaoise Prison, County Laois, Republic of Ireland
http://i.imgur.com/14O1gTO.jpg
This is an out of date version of the prison on Google Earth
This is a top-security prison with some of Ireland's worst criminals inside.
It has not been blurred, but it is not on the map and, has instead, been replaced by an older prison building picture.
It is suggested this was done to prevent the planning of prison break attempts if people were able to study the layout as seen from above.
6) The Faroe Islands
http://i.imgur.com/mXpzXK0.jpg
The Faroe Islands on Google Earth
Large areas of islands in the autonomous archipelago-country of the Faroes are gone, including an old WWII military base on one island called Vágar.
Although classed as part of Denmark, the islands are a self-governing archipelago made up of 18 volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic.
It is not clear why the other areas are missing, but suggestions include the protection of fishing rights for its 50,000 population.
7) Kangtega - The Snow Saddle - a mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal.
http://i.imgur.com/eJEAPdn.jpg
Mountainous cover up? The Snow Saddle
Although the summit rises is 6,782 metres high, the peak is blanked out.
Even conspiracists have not come up with a theory and accepted it may just be technical glitch.
8) The Keowee Dam, on Lake Keowee in South Carolina
http://i.imgur.com/Dt2Rkrf.jpg
Dam deception: he Keowee Dam, on Lake Keowee in South Carolina
This large site is also blurred out.
At around 26 miles long, 3 miles wide, 16 metres deep, and with a 300-mile shoreline, it provides cooling water for Oconee Nuclear Station.
One conspiracist said: "Why would they want to hide a reservoir? Could be the fact that the dam helps run the Oconee Nuclear Station.
"Whatever the potential risk, someone doesn't want us to see it, simple as that."
9) City of Valencia, Philippines
http://i.imgur.com/M9Wirdh.jpg
Valencia city in the Philippines
With just 180,000 residents, conspiracists have asked why it would be obscured and suggested it may be another glitch.
The city is in the central part of the Province of Bukidnon.
But, it is also believed to be the HQ of the government's missile defence program and some believe it may have been pixelated for security reasons.
10) One site on Google Earth conspiracists thought wouldn't be
http://i.imgur.com/ixflO7J.jpg
Out in the open: Area 51 from above
It has bee a favourite of the conspiracy theorists since the 1960s.
UFO hunters claim the mysterious Area 51 top secret military based in Nevada, USA, was where crashed UFOs and even alien bodies have been taken for secret storage and testing.
The US Government would not even admit it existed until 2013.
But surprisingly the site is not obscured and Google earth users can have a good old mooch around.
http://i.imgur.com/ZUpKiFL.jpg
How the Northern & Shell building in Lower Thames Street would look if Google blurred us out
So what is going on?
Google makes no secret of the fact it will consider removing sensitive images from its maps, but businesses or agencies who wish this to happen have to make an official application.
Even memebers of the public can apply to have their home obscured, but it is only likely to be accepted if there are valid grounds such as a victim of domestic or other abuse being involved.
Express.co.uk contacted Google to ask why these particular sites were obscured, but the corporation declined to comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApKetiLpeI
http://i.imgur.com/pPn4vI3.jpg
GOOGLE Earth may have brought the world to your living room, but like so many things in life it does not appear to be a case of access all areas.
Large areas that have been blurred or pixelated out contain sensitive and top secret sites that the corporation has hidden at the request of world leaders, according to conspiracy theorists.
But now a list of some of the most puzzling omissions has now appeared online.
1) Secret closed cities of Siberia, Russia
http://i.imgur.com/yxHm3Th.jpg
Conspiracists believe this blur could be hiding a secret city
A huge area of Russia in the Siberian tundra is heavily blurred with no certain explanation why.
The nearest populated area is the city of Egvekinot.
Some conspiracy theorists claim the blurring may obscure a large closed city from which its residents cannot leave, and others cannot venture inside.
It emerged in the 1980s that there were dozens of closed cities - tightly control relics of the Soviet era where residents lived behind barbed-wire fences - with more than one million people living in them.
They were used as places for secretive military and other testing, some of which continued following the fall of the Berlin wall.
Some have gradually opened up, but it is said that many people still live there in complete isolation from the rest of the country and the outside world and unable to leave.
2) Haarp site on the Washington-Oregon border
http://i.imgur.com/cDmJnrq.jpg
The Haarp site obscured on Google Earth
The Haarp (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) was a US military scientific project which has spawned more conspiracies than the Large Hadron Collider.
It was established by the US Air Force to study the Earth's ionosphere - a highly charged and active part of the upper atmosphere.
But many conspiracists always claimed it was a cover for secretive tests to control the weather or even to research "captured UFO technology".
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez said in 2010 Haarp may have caused the Haiti earthquake.
The air force ended the project in 2014, but some claim it continues
Blurring it from Google Earth will only fuel the conspiracies.
3) The Volkel air base, the Netherlands
http://i.imgur.com/eW69BiM.jpg
Camoflauged: The Volkel air base, the Netherlands
This site, at the centre of many claims about storage of US nuclear bombs has been obscured on Google Earth.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers has previously claimed there are 22 US nuclear bombs stored in the bunkers of the air base.
These were said to include B61 thermonuclear bombs and a bomb apparently four times as powerful as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.
According to US diplomatic files, which appeared on Wikileaks, atomic weapons were stored by the US in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Turkey.
4) The Százhalombatta Oil Refinery in Hungary
http://i.imgur.com/qAqsNos.jpg
Wot no Százhalombatta Oil Refinery
This site has been coloured green on Google Earth.
Many of its building and grounds were also removed, but with no explanation.
Much of the green appears to just cover a neighbouring area of grass.
Some suggest camouflaging the site may be to proven terrorists planning a strike on the facelift.
5) Portlaoise Prison, County Laois, Republic of Ireland
http://i.imgur.com/14O1gTO.jpg
This is an out of date version of the prison on Google Earth
This is a top-security prison with some of Ireland's worst criminals inside.
It has not been blurred, but it is not on the map and, has instead, been replaced by an older prison building picture.
It is suggested this was done to prevent the planning of prison break attempts if people were able to study the layout as seen from above.
6) The Faroe Islands
http://i.imgur.com/mXpzXK0.jpg
The Faroe Islands on Google Earth
Large areas of islands in the autonomous archipelago-country of the Faroes are gone, including an old WWII military base on one island called Vágar.
Although classed as part of Denmark, the islands are a self-governing archipelago made up of 18 volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic.
It is not clear why the other areas are missing, but suggestions include the protection of fishing rights for its 50,000 population.
7) Kangtega - The Snow Saddle - a mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal.
http://i.imgur.com/eJEAPdn.jpg
Mountainous cover up? The Snow Saddle
Although the summit rises is 6,782 metres high, the peak is blanked out.
Even conspiracists have not come up with a theory and accepted it may just be technical glitch.
8) The Keowee Dam, on Lake Keowee in South Carolina
http://i.imgur.com/Dt2Rkrf.jpg
Dam deception: he Keowee Dam, on Lake Keowee in South Carolina
This large site is also blurred out.
At around 26 miles long, 3 miles wide, 16 metres deep, and with a 300-mile shoreline, it provides cooling water for Oconee Nuclear Station.
One conspiracist said: "Why would they want to hide a reservoir? Could be the fact that the dam helps run the Oconee Nuclear Station.
"Whatever the potential risk, someone doesn't want us to see it, simple as that."
9) City of Valencia, Philippines
http://i.imgur.com/M9Wirdh.jpg
Valencia city in the Philippines
With just 180,000 residents, conspiracists have asked why it would be obscured and suggested it may be another glitch.
The city is in the central part of the Province of Bukidnon.
But, it is also believed to be the HQ of the government's missile defence program and some believe it may have been pixelated for security reasons.
10) One site on Google Earth conspiracists thought wouldn't be
http://i.imgur.com/ixflO7J.jpg
Out in the open: Area 51 from above
It has bee a favourite of the conspiracy theorists since the 1960s.
UFO hunters claim the mysterious Area 51 top secret military based in Nevada, USA, was where crashed UFOs and even alien bodies have been taken for secret storage and testing.
The US Government would not even admit it existed until 2013.
But surprisingly the site is not obscured and Google earth users can have a good old mooch around.
http://i.imgur.com/ZUpKiFL.jpg
How the Northern & Shell building in Lower Thames Street would look if Google blurred us out
So what is going on?
Google makes no secret of the fact it will consider removing sensitive images from its maps, but businesses or agencies who wish this to happen have to make an official application.
Even memebers of the public can apply to have their home obscured, but it is only likely to be accepted if there are valid grounds such as a victim of domestic or other abuse being involved.
Express.co.uk contacted Google to ask why these particular sites were obscured, but the corporation declined to comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApKetiLpeI