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Comment by coolspot | Hacker News Reader

Likewise, Obama’s new house in Hawaii is shown as empty lot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pKKkR17trBiz7b9w6?g_st=ipc

It was built more than three years ago.

Looks the same on Google and Bing. You can see it on Apple Maps though: https://maps.apple.com/place?coordinate=21.324794,-157.67986...

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It looks like Google Maps is using old imagery for some reason. If you look on Google Earth, the image used appears to be from 12 Jan 2016[1]. The more recent imagery (2022 onwards) shows the new build, and you can see glimpses of it in Street View on Google Maps.

[1] https://earth.google.com/web/search/%22Robin+Masters+Estate%...

I guess there is less post-processing of images in Google Earth, because it is more professional-oriented product.

E.g. the same place in 2020,2021 is covered with a cloud, which never happens in a consumer-oriented maps.

It might be reasonable to protect Mr. Obama's house image. But why not protect commoners' houses equally?

He and his family are under Secret Service protection for life, so they are not like commoners already, so it makes sense that their houses have special treatment.

On the other hand a motivated party can easily get a satellite view from Apple Maps / Google Earth or even build a 3D map using a drone (it is not a no-fly zone). So it doesn’t really contribute to VIP’s security.

Same reason real bank has more security than piggybank.

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