Living in TLV for a week now. This annoys me, for various practical reasons: I became (maybe a bad thing?) dependent on decent, free and _readable_ maps. Maps are easy to get by, but I am used to get a decent preview of places I'm interested in. I'd love to explore the country virtually and check out places of interest, possible targets for a day off or a weekend trip.
Pretty certainly someone, somewhere thought that this would be necessary and a good idea, but I fail to grasp the reasons. It seems as if the 'privacy' gained by censoring/prohibiting this kind of imagery is borderline security by obscurity. It's not like anyone really interested in these maps couldn't get them from other places - or travel the country and look for places of interest. It just annoys the laymen - like me.
It's CYA policy for blame-shifting, a variant of security theater. When the next attack happens, the map purveyor needs to be able to say "he didn't do it with my maps". The map maker is not really interested in preventing attacks; just preventing blame. His self-interest is to make sure he can't be perceived to bear any fault for any attack that may happen.
And this effect works recursively for any entity that has power over the map maker. The Israeli government similarly wants to shift any blame away. So they can ban publishing a map of anything they consider vulnerable, not to realistically prevent any attack, but just to make sure they look like they tried and nobody can play the card of "why didn't they do something?" against them.
For a tech example, consider a system of stringent password requirements, with specifications for length and no dictionary words and special characters and so on. We know that this leads to the Post-it approach by users. But the password designer is only looking to avoid blame for any hypothetical attack - if the password is stolen off the written note, he can blame the stupid user and point to his own "secure" requirements.
I have a major pet peeve against the warped culture of "accountability" which really just means "find someone to blame when things go wrong". In that environment (when you aren't lavished rewarded when things go well, but are punished when they break) the incentives are skewed.
It's probably overdone and largely useless but not quite as ridiculous as it seems. Sure, high res maps are probably theoretically available from some source and country with an army and an intelligence apparatus will have access to these. Recently, Israel attracts fire from groups ranging from a couple guys and a $200 mortar tube to sub national militias with limited support from a handful of real countries. I imagine these groups, much like startups, appreciate the cheap & easy 80/20 solutions that something like google earth offers.
I remember years ago hearing stories about rocket squads using Israeli radio reports of rockets striking (for example) 1km west of Kibbutz Dan to adjust their aim.
Disclaimer first: As I said above, I'm new here. I certainly don't claim to be an expert on anything Israel.
That said: I don't quite get your point. If you want to shoot at point X, doesn't a decent map (no imagery needed) give you what you need? Distance, probably elevation? And if you're in range for these militia stuff, can't you check out the place before anyway?
It's not like Google Maps/Earth is live, showing the result of your action (as the radio would in your example).
Again, to avoid stirring up trouble: I certainly have no clue about living in a country where you have real security threats. But I cannot grasp (potentially because of the reason listed before) how this limited availability of 'old' imagery helps protecting against attacks.
Like I said, I would not be surprised if the censorship is overkill and/or almost entirely useless.
That said, (A) satellite imagery, I assume, contains information that's hard to get from a map. The buildings, trees, layouts, and flow of the place. You can easily see on satellite where people are likely to be. (B) Maps are also censored. What's this thing?: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...
Also, just to give a picture of the scale we are talking about, that thing is close enough to Gaza to aim with a naked eye. We're not talking about ICBMs
Just after mapping Gaza, JumpStart went to map the country of Georgia. For anyone interested in as a programmer (lead or otherwise) in Georgia (Tblisi, cool city) on interesting followup projects, get in touch, I'm on the JumpSatrrt board and we're currently looking for IT talent...email in my profile. When I say "volunteer", we can pay expenses and a small salary...its just not Silicon Valley pay ;).
I lived in TLV last summer. It annoyed me dramatically as well. It was impossible to check out the neighborhood on google maps before I moved in (as well as other points of interest that I planned on going to)
Second, what you describe as check out places of interest, possible targets for a day off or a weekend trip is not falling into the category of secret army bases etc. which are in discussion. (unless of curse, if in your case, "the places pf interests" are actually army bases ;-) But, I assume you are a hacker at most, but not a spy.
Keep in mind the fact that Israel is a very small country, and yet major parts of whatever is left to us, is claimed by others. From Tel Aviv, which is located on the west side, by the sea, and the east border there are only 16KM (10 miles) of land in between (same range as from 14th Street to Baker Field, New York)
Therefore, we try to keep the little we have as much as possible and this is the reason, I think, for the censorship one might call it.
All in all, I wish you great and joyful stay in our city, and if you need a partner for a beer or two, drop me a mail.
Pretty certainly someone, somewhere thought that this would be necessary and a good idea, but I fail to grasp the reasons. It seems as if the 'privacy' gained by censoring/prohibiting this kind of imagery is borderline security by obscurity. It's not like anyone really interested in these maps couldn't get them from other places - or travel the country and look for places of interest. It just annoys the laymen - like me.
What am I missing?