This is quite an eerie sight: no planes at Frankfurt Airport on this google maps satellite view.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0379556 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Google has removed cars and trucks from highways for a couple of years now. Digitally removed. Perhaps they are starting to do this with airports now?

There is a nose and wing of a LH 748 on the center taxiway, lol.

Just checked LAX and HND and the aircraft are there. Also looked at AUH and there are rows and rows of parked planes. So that airport has been photographed since the Covid shutdown.

Another airport with no aircraft is Everett Paine Field in Washington, USA. Never thought that they'd be digitally altering the planes out, interesting (although a real bummer since you won't be able to see 'random' airplanes at the airport on satellite view)...

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.9113991 ... a=!3m1!1e3

By the way, Google maps images of this resolution are photographs from aircraft. You have to go a long way up before the pictures were obtained from a satellite.

Google Earth sometimes edits out aircraft, cars, ships, and other objects that aren't always in the same location. Ruins the point of satellite imagery if some of the imagery is edited out in my opinion.

VCVSpotter wrote:

Another airport with no aircraft is Everett Paine Field in Washington, USA. Never thought that they'd be digitally altering the planes out, interesting (although a real bummer since you won't be able to see 'random' airplanes at the airport on satellite view)...

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.9113991 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Not sure if I have different settings on Google Maps, but I still see all the aircraft in that one you linked.

It's the removal of objects for the 3D view mode - Google Earth doesn't do it the same way so the date layers won't have objects removed if you use desktop Google Earth

timpdx wrote:

Google has removed cars and trucks from highways for a couple of years now. Digitally removed. Perhaps they are starting to do this with airports now?

They remove vehicles so road markings etc. can be seen clearly. The unintended consequence is that the software also removes aircraft in airports. I suspect it might go after ships, trains and boats as well.

Also HEL is aircraft clear on Google maps

vahancrazy wrote:

Also HEL is aircraft clear on Google maps

Not entirely for me on android app. Can see a few turbopropps and a smaller CRJ200 or similar.

NickLAX wrote:

It's the removal of objects for the 3D view mode - Google Earth doesn't do it the same way so the date layers won't have objects removed if you use desktop Google Earth

FRA airport is just the same in Google Earth as it is on Google Maps, no planes.

If you ever had the chance to use Google Maps 3D/"Globe" features, panning around in all three dimensions, when there *were* airplanes, you would have seen that trying to model the planes themselves in 3D was almost impossible, both because they are transient objects and because they're geometrically complex and have lots of smoothly curved surfaces (as opposed to a cube, for example, which is easy to model). Removal of transient objects (planes, cars, etc.) creates a much cleaner, crisper, and easier-to-model environment. One example of this at FRA is the intersection of taxiways M10, M7, and M. If you're using Google Maps today (7 July 2020), you'll see a 787 taxiing there if you have "Globe" (3D imagery) turned off. If you turn "Globe" *on*, that 787 disappears. Magic!

Take at look at Schipol Airport (AMS). There are TONS of planes there. But... Google has no 3D imagery for that airport. Imagine trying to model ALL those planes in 3D. It's a huge amount of data and very complex for the user's computer to animate. It's far easier on both ends to just remove the planes.

Thunderboltdrgn wrote:

vahancrazy wrote:

Also HEL is aircraft clear on Google maps

Not entirely for me on android app. Can see a few turbopropps and a smaller CRJ200 or similar.

Ah, true. I had checked Terminal 2 side. Thanks!

... Just sad to see such empty airports pictures.

They take image sets from low flying planes - and they take them in a way that they have the same spot from different view points and at different times. Any object that isn't in all pictures is rendered out by their algorithm. If you look at the highways around FRA there are also no cars (as in many places) - and believe me, there are always cars .

What I wrote is true just for all places where they actually have their 3D view available - for instance AMS is just outside such an area, on the most eastern corner of the airport it changes from 2D pictures with pseudo 3D to actual 3D. The entire inner city of Amsterdam is available in 3D.

And with regard to FRA and the current situation: I guess there have never been so much planes parked at the airport then right now - they are basically anywhere.

Could it be from the very stringent privacy laws in Germany that they took it to an extreme and removed any and all vehicles?

Privacy laws in Germany are very....annoying and it leads to quirks like Germany didn't have street view until recently they are beginning to map it.

As for aerial vs satellite imagery. 99% of google maps is going to be satellites since its a lot more cost effective to take some pictures and download them versus sending two guys in a plane for hours and hours. Commercial imagery is really good now with planet labs having 3-5 meter resolution with Maxar now boasting up to 30cm resolutions.

Take a look at FRA using Apple Maps, the planes are everywhere on the airport.

It's as m66 explained it. All the locations with 3D view are made by airplanes flying over an area several times. They also use the same images together with satelite images for the 2D view, they usualy combine several images to get the best view.

It seen in countries all over the world, not just in Germany, so there's no special German reason behind this policy to remove moving objects.

They removed planes from many airports (incl little ole RDU) many years ago. There were some threads about that at the time. Not sure we ever determined exactly why.

Gang - I pulled up several airport satellite images today. I was checking a gate location for my flight sim. And I noticed that four different airport satellite images on google maps (EWR, MSP, JFK and ATL) there are little to no airplanes at the gates. In fact, ATL had only two regional jets at two gates, but the other three airports had none!!! Now, my first thought was this was impact of COVID. But no, if anything that would mean more planes parked at gates. So this almost suggests that google maps has to edit the planes out. But it certainly doesn't look like an edit job, or a hell of an edit job. Why do you think this is. It's not like these images were shot on a saturday. There are NO planes.

richiemo wrote:

Gang - I pulled up several airport satellite images today. I was checking a gate location for my flight sim. And I noticed that four different airport satellite images on google maps (EWR, MSP, JFK and ATL) there are little to no airplanes at the gates. In fact, ATL had only two regional jets at two gates, but the other three airports had none!!! Now, my first thought was this was impact of COVID. But no, if anything that would mean more planes parked at gates. So this almost suggests that google maps has to edit the planes out. But it certainly doesn't look like an edit job, or a hell of an edit job. Why do you think this is. It's not like these images were shot on a saturday. There are NO planes.

The images you're looking at are likely several years old, so definitely pre-covid and showing normal operations. Aside from a couple of hours each day, airport gates are generally empty, especially in banked hubs like all of the airports you mentioned. No airplanes at the gate means they're all in the sky making money.

Also, what could be happening is that Google is stitching together photos taken when the gates are empty. You can see this in MSP, there is a gate that has the right wing of an A330, but nothing else.

Same at YUL. There is another thread on here saying the same of other airports. It appears google are doing this on purpose and are also doing it to roads with cars, not sure on the reason but likely some logic.

Fred


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some places choose to have their satellite imagery scrubbed; it very much is an edit job. There were planes there when the imagery was taken.

richiemo wrote:

Gang - I pulled up several airport satellite images today. I was checking a gate location for my flight sim. And I noticed that four different airport satellite images on google maps (EWR, MSP, JFK and ATL) there are little to no airplanes at the gates. In fact, ATL had only two regional jets at two gates, but the other three airports had none!!! Now, my first thought was this was impact of COVID. But no, if anything that would mean more planes parked at gates. So this almost suggests that google maps has to edit the planes out. But it certainly doesn't look like an edit job, or a hell of an edit job. Why do you think this is. It's not like these images were shot on a saturday. There are NO planes.

This comes up on this forum once every couple of months. Yes, Google now removes these; it's not a difficult job.

Google algo tries to remove all vehicles to get an “empty” world picture. And also most google pictures are taken from airplanes not sats

A great number of these images are also composite images, taken at different times, then digitally stitched together. This is also why you'll often see a lack of clouds obstructing the view.

Google has algorithms to compare multiple photos across several dates to determine what is a fixed or natural object and one that is movable or temporary. It then uses the various photos to artificially remove the movable objects such as cars and airplanes.

I don't like the practice at all, but it's their service. I used to browse airports on Google Maps when bored and see what kind of traffic is there, even if it is limited.

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

BooDog wrote:

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

It's hard to believe that planes aren't being scrubbed from some airports on Google Maps. For example, look at JFK or SFO...not one plane at any terminal gate. The concept of banks of flights doesn't explain the complete absence of aircraft at these airports. There simply are no periods of time at busy airports like JFK and SFO where there are not at least several planes present at the terminals. Yes, Google Maps has shots of airports like DFW where there are pics of planes. But I don't think that means that Google hasn't scrubbed JFK, SFO, and others. All it means is that for some reason, Google Maps has scrubbed some airports, but not others.

richiemo wrote:

Gang - I pulled up several airport satellite images today. I was checking a gate location for my flight sim. And I noticed that four different airport satellite images on google maps (EWR, MSP, JFK and ATL) there are little to no airplanes at the gates. In fact, ATL had only two regional jets at two gates, but the other three airports had none!!! Now, my first thought was this was impact of COVID. But no, if anything that would mean more planes parked at gates. So this almost suggests that google maps has to edit the planes out. But it certainly doesn't look like an edit job, or a hell of an edit job. Why do you think this is. It's not like these images were shot on a saturday. There are NO planes.

I believe the reason is their 3D imagery (buildings, mountains, etc). They use some sort of system to get the ground level by measuring the distance from where the photo is taken (airplane, satellite, whatever) and movable objects cause distortion in this process. It appears they use compositing to remove the movable objects in order to reduce or eliminate distortion in the 3D imagery.

They used to have airplanes everywhere. People would post links to planes in the air and such.

BooDog wrote:

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

It's nice when people are totally confident in things that are 100% wrong. The images are absolutely scrubbed. There have been numerous threads about this. There is no time, ever, that DFW, LAX, LHR or other busy airports wouldn't have a single aircraft on the field. Considering that all airports used to have airplanes on Google maps and now don't, it's a logical assumption that this is intentional, in the same way that cars are not shown on highways or roads.

Jeremy

BooDog wrote:

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

FRA is empty of airplanes - that never happens at any time of the day. These are composite pictures taken at different times and different angles (from special airplanes). If objects are not present in all picture sets, they are rendered out by the Google algorithm.

Heathrow on the other end is so busy that you actually see composite airplanes - here a BA and a Cathay plane are mixed (even two types, I would guess the Cathay plane is 777 and the BA plane is 747):
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Heathrow+Airport/@51.472568,-0.4650371,42a,35y,324h,67.9t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48767234cdc56de9:0x8fe7535543f64167!8m2!3d51.4700223!4d-0.4542955

SESGDL wrote:

It's nice when people are totally confident in things that are 100% wrong.
Jeremy

Same mindset in the conspiracy theorists and flat earthers. Clueless about reality.

SYD has plenty of aircraft at gates (clearly pre-COVID) and taxiing

bmibaby737 wrote:

NickLAX wrote:

It's the removal of objects for the 3D view mode - Google Earth doesn't do it the same way so the date layers won't have objects removed if you use desktop Google Earth

FRA airport is just the same in Google Earth as it is on Google Maps, no planes.

Google Earth Desktop or Google Earth BROWSER site?

The desktop app for me shows airplanes

SESGDL wrote:

BooDog wrote:

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

It's nice when people are totally confident in things that are 100% wrong. The images are absolutely scrubbed. There have been numerous threads about this. There is no time, ever, that DFW, LAX, LHR or other busy airports wouldn't have a single aircraft on the field. Considering that all airports used to have airplanes on Google maps and now don't, it's a logical assumption that this is intentional, in the same way that cars are not shown on highways or roads.

Jeremy

What are you talking about? Go check out DFW or LAX or LHR on googlemaps.com. Full of planes. Did you even look before you assumed I was wrong?
DFW - https://goo.gl/maps/L1jwsYDzSc4WCy7V6 FULL OF PLANES
LAX - https://goo.gl/maps/7SYu83ci2zRPwrsW9 FULL OF PLANES
LHR - https://goo.gl/maps/ubGk75CyXphh5RqG7 FULL OF PLANES

BooDog wrote:

Nothing is being "scrubbed" from Google Maps. It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken. Go to DFW, LAX, MIA, LHR, SYD. All full of planes.

Go check out DFW or LAX or LHR on googlemaps.com. Full of planes. Did you even look before you assumed I was wrong?
DFW - https://goo.gl/maps/L1jwsYDzSc4WCy7V6 FULL OF PLANES
LAX - https://goo.gl/maps/7SYu83ci2zRPwrsW9 FULL OF PLANES
LHR - https://goo.gl/maps/ubGk75CyXphh5RqG7 FULL OF PLANES

You are 100% correct that these specific locations are untouched, and hence full of planes.

You are 100% WRONG with the statement "Nothing is being scrubbed from Google Maps"

There are some (many) locations where aircraft & other traffic has been digitally removed. And there are others where Google haven't got around to it ... yet.
If you need an example of scrubbing - there's one mentioned in the THREAD TITLE (Frankfurt).
Try that instead of looking everywhere else for exceptions.

It all depends on the time of day the picture was taken

That is priceless!
Whilst it is indeed true that time of day will affect the absolute numbers you see, not one of the top 1000 airports across the planet ever empties out completely.

sjones1975 wrote:

for some reason, Google Maps has scrubbed some airports, but not others.

I expect it is all to do with "transients", particularly those that are "moving targets".
You will probably find that the few remaining aircraft visible at places like Frankfurt, were all in motion (e.g. on taxiways & runways) as the satellite passed over, or worse, they were airborne (see the LH A320 just crossing overhead Autobahn A5, after departing runway 07 C). The google algorithm isn't able to deal with these effectively.

berari wrote:

This is quite an eerie sight: no planes at Frankfurt Airport on this google maps satellite view.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0379556 ... a=!3m1!1e3

There are 10 aircraft in the photo.

If you look at the google earth interpretation of LHR you can see one of the issues that is faced by stitching these images together for 3D rendering. There is an aircraft parked at T3 gate 42, that is both CX and BA....weird.

Fred


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is no good. I love aerial views of airports on google earth. I’d like the planes to remain.