Project Sunroof...be worried.

"Project Sunroof is an on line tool created by Google for evaluating the viability of solar energy in any given area right down to an exact location or street address. It provides estimates as to how much solar can be harvested, how much it will shave off an electric bill, and will even “helpfully” refer users to local contractors who will set you up with solar.

One of the components of Project Sunroof is that the algorithm is capable of analyzing satellite images, identifying existing solar installations, and plotting them on a map. No self reporting is required. Translation: If you already have solar panels on your house, Google is going to know, and so will everyone else. If you do not have solar, Google will announce that fact to the world too.

...those who live in remote areas should not feel too comfortable…the satellites will eventually find and tag you."

Complete article here: Google's Project Sunroof: Useful Tool That Uses Us As Tools. - Off Grid Ham

It's getting harder and harder to maintain OPSEC. Even if you live way out in the sticks, you'll be on Google's radar.

I hope there is a way to opt out of this.

 

I read an article, some time back, that stated something about being able to have them blur your home image on street view.

 

Typically, opting out only opts you out of a portion, such as blurring your house image, or only takes you out of the public database. They don't delete you out of their database, and maintain everything they have on you or the property for a number of reasons. For instance, what if you change your mind? A quick uncheck of a box and all that information is made available again. Same if you sell the house...the person who opted out isn't there anymore and so the opt out is no longer in force.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if there is in fact any government tie in, opting out is at the very least captured and likely flags you for future review and or investigation.

 

You are still going to be in their database, and Google is basically a data pimp who will sell you to the highest bidder.

 

This capacity already exists with in googles and other mapping sites, it's a moot point.
And if it's not that, there hot air balloons flying over head all the time belonging to realistate agencies inspecting your land.
This world is shrinking , and there is less and less privacy .

 

The all seeing eye. If we don't lose our freedom and privacy one way we will lose it another way. It's constant like rain slowly grinding a mountain into sand.

 

I've got other bad news for you.
If you own a piece of property and pay property taxes, chances are your property has been mapped with gps coordinates. some tax jurisdictions are still meets and bounds but are rapidly converting. Back in the early 00s there was a big grant from the feds to the states to do the conversion.

then companies like ersi, corelogic combine that with mortgage and consumer and tax data data and then finally companies like eagleview using planes and drone or other companies using satellites capturing high quality imagery gather Exabytes of images all over the globe.

And finally governments work with researchers and get LIDAR and ground contour data and combine it into neat monolithic web applications to map the entire globe.

Oh did I mention that they are also incorporating dash cams, security cams and other open webcams to provide situational awareness???

Yep, technology has basically destroyed OPSEC. Don't worry about camouflaging the compound now. Some of the imagery they've been gathering since the late 2000's. But if you were building something new, you could camouflage the area first then start the build.

If you do not live in a sparsely populated rural county (seriously low pop density, no industry, no towns over 5k population), then you've already been seen. Imagery is typically updated every few years. but now with drones .. it could be on demand.

Good luck.

 

Go to google maps or bing maps and look at their birds eye view or 3d view. put in your addresses.

You can even measure distances between objects by right clicking on the map.

Enjoy your day.

 

You are correct. However, Project Sunroof is not the same as street view and as far as I can tell, there is no opt-out, or "blurring" or any of that.

And while street view images can be very old because collecting the data is labor intensive (they have to actually drive down your street), a satellite image can be updated much more often, even several times a day if they really wanted.

There is no easy way out of this.

 

I should also mention, that tax assesers love these tools. Don't have to access your property to see new construction.
so do service companies, like roofers, lawn maintenance, tree service companies, typically can do all the measurements right from their computer to give you an accurate quote or bill.

 

I am so thankful, every day, that I reside in a country where the government doesn't care where I live, or what I am doing on, or with that property, as long as I keep my visa current.

 

But google cares.
Google Maps

Pou Meiv Village in Cambodia. Fricken google is everywhere. I'm thinking they are actually Skynet.

 

(smile)
Had a fellow on another board post a large number of images of his 'neighbor's' solar setup. Quite the deal, he said, even remotely reports system status - since the owner is rarely at 'home'. (facepalm x 10)

I, politely, asked if the property owner had granted permission for the pics and post - and if the poster had cleared the image set with said owner.

The resulting volcano said the neighbor likely hadn't objected to a few pics to share - but I doubt the owner had OK'd such a full spread. Even that much was problematic.
My point made, I was willing to press on - then the **** made the claim it didn't matter - as the place was so remote nobody could find the place in a Month of Sunday's.

Sadly, this poster is very proud of himself and stupid enough to use the same handle/user name on multiple boards. Just using the UserName, it took less than 30 minutes to pinpoint his location, complete with photos of the entrance to his "BOL" (a nasty shack in the woods) and to the property of the now exposed neighbor. To say the guy was prolific with both his keyboard and camera is an understatement. Hell, he even posted a map to 'his mountain'. (Watta dumbass)

All this without Google Earth, spy sats or dipping into the ultra-secret CIA database of 'known preppers'.

People can be their own worst enemies. In the end, they will at some point - pay the price for their own ego/stupidity.

It's when they become their neighbor's worst enemy.....

My point is,, simple social tracking and a bit of time is more than enough to build a fairly complete picture of a person. I've built multi-generational family trees of folks in under 3 hours using on-line data posted by the person, obits, land records etc - all publicly available. This in an effort to convince my grand-kinder the web is not their friend.

Last point - the Las Vegas shooter had almost no web presence. Or, perhaps, one that had been carefully erased. And so is a mystery to the authorities.....

 

@VisuTrac "I should also mention, that tax assessors love these tools..."
Yes, I was going to say the same thing. They are definitely being used by a lot of counties throughout the states to include mine. I recently heard a story where a guy built himself a new deck and two weeks later the assessor was there asking about it since they saw it using something like Google Earth.

@Asia-Off-Grid "I am so thankful, every day, that I reside in a country where the government doesn't care where I live, or what I am doing on, or with that property, as long as I keep my visa current."
Yeah, it certainly is different isn't it? I built an apartment and then later a large house in Central Asia and it was amazingly simple to do so. Here, stateside, I can't even add a simple lean-to to the garage roof without a dozen permits, a load of inspections and a ton of crap which of course is all charged to me at an exorbitant price which they decide and I cannot dispute. Hell, I even had to have an inspector and a permit to install a woodstove even though it was installed by a registered company! It is so bad that after a serious windstorm, 2 years ago, they had to have emergency powers put in place because the bureaucracy was so bad it would have taken years to get everything repaired and working again. There are contractors here that won't even accept work until they see how much of a walk through hell they have to go through for the permit process. Yeah, 'Land of the Free' my backside. I always laugh to myself when I hear that because the ones who say it don't know anything else but here, the Land of rules, regulations, and licenses, and so many laws you can't even turn around without a permit. Yeah, 'Land of the Free'...what a load of tripe.

 

I went to the county tax office to get a county map. Talking to the map maker I found using aerial photos the county paid for he knew not only where my house and land where but also where and what size my garden was. That part of OPSEC is gone unless you are practicing covert gardening.

 

Fair enough. But, it will be a while before Google maps everywhere in Cambodia. And, with Hun Sen pumping his chest against the USA currently, I'm not sure how helpful he (the government) would even be to Google.

The most recent images of Battambang are from 2014, it seems. Here, many businesses will no longer even exist, by the time the next Google car drives past their respective locations. And, they don't cover many side roads and few, if any, alleyways.

While I personally don't give a rat's ass who knows where I live, I only rent an apartment in town anyway ($80 US / month, believe it or not). Due to having a nutter internet stalker since 2008, I do have a webpage showing where I live. This is solely to prove I'm not wanted by Interpol, or any other agency on Earth, like he has repeatedly claimed. He's a fecking idiot, truth be told. I have visited / lived in countries, and even returned to the US on the same "fake" passport he said I possessed at the time. Truly some real nutters in this world. You have NO idea how badly I want him to show up here.

 

Don't get too puffed up, dude. The government may not care, but Google does. And if they haven't found you yet, they will soon.