Google Unscrambles Images of VP Residence
EmailABC News’ Lindsey Ellerson reports: Barack Obama has vowed his presidency will be the most "transparent" ever, but how literally is the administration taking this pledge? The Naval Observatory, home to the vice president since the late 1970s, serves to provide astronomical data and navigational information to the U.S. government. But, for years the stars and sun have not aligned to reveal satellite imagery to Google Earth and Google Maps. In years past the vice presidential residence at One Observatory Circle has been obscured by pixilation on Google, but now the image has been made available for public consumption. "Google Earth and Google Maps are regularly updated as new imagery becomes available from our 3rd-party providers," said a spokesperson from Google when asked about the recent Washington update. "Our most recent update, which went live during the past few weeks, included updated imagery of the Washington D.C. area from several providers." When pressed on why the location — which is still slightly blurry — was modified and who was involved in approving the change, Google would not comment directly. "This update was part of a larger update to our imagery of the D.C. region; we strive to continually update our imagery to stay current and high-quality. The imagery in question, of the Naval Observatory, comes from DigitalGlobe." DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite provider of world imagery, also failed to specifically address the motivation behind modifying the imagery of the vice presidential residence. The organization did, however, confirm that its actions are regulated by governmental policy. "We adhere to U.S. Government regulatory licenses and policies and they in themselves, provide restrictions on what imagery is publicly available, for example, no commercial satellite provider can provide imagery at less than .5 meters to any commercial entity," said the company in a written statement. "Although we provide DigitalGlobe imagery to Google and other portals through content agreements, in this particular case, we do not have any knowledge of when, or if they updated this area recently. We respect the rights of any of our content partners to restrict views of any area deemed sensitive." The blogosphere claims that the recent change was made on January 18, just days before one of the most criticized vice presidents in history was exiting office. Built in 1893, the United States Naval Observatory, located in northwest Washington, D.C., has been the official home to vice presidents since 1974. "Walter Mondale was the first Vice President to move into the home," according to the White House website. "It has since been home to the families of Vice Presidents Bush, Quayle, Gore, and Cheney. Vice President and Dr. Biden currently reside there." The Naval Observatory is still in operation, providing "a wide range of astronomical data and products, and serves as the official source of time for the U.S. Department of Defense and a standard of time for the entire United States," according to its website. po
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Maybe pixilating the location was enough to provide “a secret, secure location” for Cheney to be stashed in when needed.
Posted by: JR | January 26, 2009, 3:02 pm 3:02 pm
Thats pretty funny. Does Cheney look like Dr. Strangelove or is it just me.
Posted by: Jimmy | January 26, 2009, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
Cheneys secret residence was a bunker filled with many torture devices. Pure evil!
Posted by: AJ | January 26, 2009, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
Lots of room for Biden to grow his hydroponics.
Posted by: North Park | January 26, 2009, 3:17 pm 3:17 pm
There is a difference between transparency and stupidity.
Posted by: Bob | January 26, 2009, 3:21 pm 3:21 pm
This cracks me up. If the un-pixellating of the image of the VP’s residence isn’t an expression of the night-and-day difference between Biden and Cheney, I don’t know what is. Wait. Yes I do! That picture of both men with this headline.
That bright politician’s smile on Biden’s face says it all. I honestly believe he’d open up the door to his residence, welcome in hordes of visiting strangers, and enjoy every moment of hearing himself talk to them at great length, never once thinking about what he was saying. I find his unharnessed mouth both highly entertaining and a bit uneasy-making. I like the change in transparency attitude, but I think this may be a little too transparent for security purposes.
Posted by: Kellybelle22 | January 26, 2009, 3:24 pm 3:24 pm
Ummm you are kidding right? I was expecting something serious has been uncensored versus an aerial view of a house. Whoa that’s really something that we have learned about the inner workings of our government.
Posted by: LilyBelle | January 26, 2009, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
North Park said: “There is a difference between transparency and stupidity.” Indeed, I agree entirely. Thank you for your post.
Posted by: DannyPoo | January 26, 2009, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
Wow, what breaking news. Quoting the blogsphere as a source of legitimate information? Stupid! Proving your lack of journalism by doing so, priceless.
Nothing in the blogsphere can or should be miscontrued as legitimate nor should it be referenced in a serious news article, even as anecdotal. I thought ABC set a higher bar than that.
Posted by: john | January 26, 2009, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
Hey these guys passed themselves off as common joe’s. Is that a mansion I see.
Posted by: rightbehind | January 26, 2009, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
Biden just isn’t smart enough to care OR it’s cheaper than a divorace.
Posted by: Steve | January 26, 2009, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Well, this keeps the focus off Obama trying to hire the tax cheat. Next the wonderful press will be all over the story of those Obama girl dolls.
Posted by: Ron | January 26, 2009, 3:46 pm 3:46 pm
Is that Tony Rezko standing in the yard next door?
Posted by: LennyR | January 26, 2009, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
right – Yeah it is a mansion. But it is a temporary residence. Nice to see a VP whith so few enemies that the cloaka and dagger stuff is over.
Posted by: Jenny Rome Ga | January 26, 2009, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
YES THIS IS A TRUE SECURITY BREACH
NOW OUR ENEMIES WILL KNOW WHERE …
THE VP OF THE UNITED STATES LIVES…
of course they could have Google or map
it print it out for them with the fast
route to take….. but the outrage…
of it all……now what about the
location of the Bat cave ..lol
Posted by: Anita Yova | January 26, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
Gee do you think ABC would choose a picture to make someone look better than the other, aren’t they supposed report the news not make it. The liberal media has had their way now we all will pay.
Posted by: Peter | January 26, 2009, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
right – Yeah it is a mansion. But it is a temporary residence. Nice to see a VP whith so few enemies that the cloaka and dagger stuff is over.
I think that picture is of cheney’s house. Basement is probably full of waterboards.
Posted by: rightbehind | January 26, 2009, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
right – Yeah it is a mansion. But it is a temporary residence. Nice to see a VP whith so few enemies that the cloaka and dagger stuff is over.
I think that picture is of cheney’s house. Basement is probably full of waterboards.
I stand corrected. It is now Bidens House. The waterboards are probably gone to.
Posted by: rightbehind | January 26, 2009, 3:57 pm 3:57 pm
Somehow, I suspect that someone who wanted to attack the Vice-President wouldn’t be deterred by an obscured image on Google. It’s well known where the VP lives, after all, and the location of the Observatory isn’t a state secret. (I’ve spent some time in a few observatories, and they tend to be difficult to hide.)
As for the pictures of Cheney and Biden, I’m hard-pressed to think of a picture I’ve seen of Cheney with his face split by a merry grin. I’m sure there must be a few somewhere, but perhaps one just didn’t come readily to hand.
Posted by: Eleonora27 | January 26, 2009, 4:06 pm 4:06 pm
What does it matter? – The map of my area is 12 years old – wow some update — google earth – what a joke!
Posted by: md | January 26, 2009, 4:06 pm 4:06 pm
I am happy to see the building appear on the map again, and exstatic to have new residents in the building!!! Three cheers for President Obama, and VP Biden!!!
However, I wanted to point something out. The resolution of the N.O. Images does not match that of the British and New Zealand Embassies (about 100m south of the N.O.) and other surrounding buildings. The Eye Altitude on G Maps/G Earth stops at ~2500ft over the Naval Observatory, but the surrounding buildings resolve to ~1000ft
If they TRULY want to be transparent, the quality should match their closes neighbors.
Posted by: Kate | January 26, 2009, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
Of course it was blurred. The shift in the force when Cheney was there explains it perfectly
Posted by: Mike | January 26, 2009, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm
I thought there was more important problems to handle, but then again about a level we can expect. It will all be down hill from here. Revenge first sayeth the dems.
Posted by: s63m | January 26, 2009, 4:11 pm 4:11 pm
So it was unscrambled while Cheney was still vice-president? So what does Obama have to do with this story?
Posted by: VC | January 26, 2009, 4:12 pm 4:12 pm
Biden looks like a swarmy piece of crap in that picture. What a phoney! Give me Cheney anytime.
Posted by: VC | January 26, 2009, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
Its truly sad that a public figure and supposed figurehead of this country has to be so scared. Makes you wonder what he actually did to us and this country.
Posted by: Albin | January 26, 2009, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
Censorship has been a real serious issue during the last administration. Of course one can say, well it’s just a house or residence. What’s the big deal. The big deal is that that’s just the beginning. It starts one small step at a time and inches forward until people don’t care anymore. That’s the way scientific misconduct works. You desensitize one small step at a time.
http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html
Posted by: SRD-BCCM | January 26, 2009, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
Ah, yes, transparency…yet another shout out to our friends (and soon to be neighbors)….”Come on down”!
This Nation is going down and very quickly. Thank you Lord Obama
Posted by: laura | January 26, 2009, 4:32 pm 4:32 pm
VC,
YOU are the “swarmy piece of crap” sir.
It is TRASH like yourself that We as a society have to battle every day in order to improve our country.
Climb back into your hole and keep your filthy comments to yourself.
Posted by: louis r | January 26, 2009, 4:35 pm 4:35 pm
Steve,
You are TRASH along with your friend VC. Go get a library card and read a book, you cretin.
Posted by: Louis R | January 26, 2009, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm
What about safety ?? This seems like a pretty stupid thing to do. Terrorist can now have access to a view of the Vice Presidents house. Can I view Obama’s house
in Chicago ??
Posted by: CW | January 26, 2009, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
Of course now we will only have sensorship of free speech. You people on the left are dense in the least and most likely you are in on the fix!
These but heads in there now are making a mess of our country and you are helping them at every step. Thanks for the help!
Posted by: JimOnTheRight | January 26, 2009, 4:39 pm 4:39 pm
Give us a break abc. Play on the dumb for the dems.
Posted by: Jim Rod | January 26, 2009, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
VC looks like these people cannot take what they dished out about Bush and Cheney. They can say what ever trash they want to but want to censor you on your opinion.
Posted by: Jim Rod | January 26, 2009, 4:51 pm 4:51 pm
What’s the big deal? You could always Google “The National Observatory” and get an address… shoot, they even give public tours. And trust me, the bad guys are not limited by Google Earth, any more than our goverment is are. People knew where it was before there was an internet.
Posted by: Sheila | January 26, 2009, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
Okay all you people who are blaming it on the current VP should go back and read the article once more and for those of you who don’t read so well I will copy and paste the part of the article that has the date the site was up dated. The recent change was made on January 18, just days before one of the most criticized vice presidents in history was exiting office. If memory serves me correctly the current VP did not take office until January 20. That is two day later. So get a life all you right wing nuts.
Posted by: Lu | January 26, 2009, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
Joe puts his foot in his mouth at times but he is one of the good guys and I especially like the fact that he doesn’t resemble Darth Vader in the least.
Posted by: Annie | January 26, 2009, 5:57 pm 5:57 pm
You’re kidding right? You put a bs story like this under that headline??? It’s a nice way to lose credibility.
Posted by: RS | January 26, 2009, 6:11 pm 6:11 pm
I’d like them to be certain that Cheney’s new home is visible. That would certainly make the paranoid psychopath happy.
Posted by: DaveM | January 26, 2009, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm
Would you say this article is just a little biased? Just look at the pictures of Biden vs Chaney…Biden is shiney, smiling, personable. Cheney is gloomy, dumpy and in as shadow.
Nice ABC, I dont even have to read the article to get the gist of what your thoughts are!
Posted by: Eri | January 26, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
To the person that said ‘Nice to see a VP whith so few enemies that the cloaka and dagger stuff is over.’
Are we so nieve to think that our enemies care about a person, they attack a title, an office, an ideology. It’s not Cheney or any one individual they beleive, if attacked, will strike fear or demolish economies – it’s prestige, place, and timing.
A person is not the target – out PEOPLE are the target. What it means to be free, and American, or a member of so many other common sense nations around the world that are free to live free.
Posted by: scmrbill | January 26, 2009, 6:31 pm 6:31 pm
Google maps has been used in terrorist attacks from Baghdad to Mumbai. That being said, do we ban the whole thing or open everything up?
Posted by: Keith | January 26, 2009, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm
This country is in a very serious,life threatening situation from the globalist’s who want to dismantle our country and keep us addicted to fossil fuels and foreign made products. These comments only reinforce the fact that we are already gone. We are not a country anymore, we are fighting over trivial things,( Repubs and Dems )while Rome burns to the ground.We will be asking the rest of the world for permission to exist if we don’t pull together.
Posted by: Rick | January 27, 2009, 9:49 am 9:49 am