# Blurred public signs on Streetview **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261 "2015-10-20T18:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/1 "2015-10-20T18:47:26Z")
Why does Google Streetview blur out some of the information on public signs? Like this: https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sCbO7osY4wc-EU8DCidFT3Q%212m2%211d41.4168632%212d-82.2089526%213f236.2%214f9.001%215f0.15 (I’m sure this must have been asked before, but can’t find it in search.) ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/2 "2015-10-20T18:55:48Z")
I suspect they have an automatic but not perfect mechanism for blurring “private” data, e.g. license plates. I suspect public signage is accidentally caught up by the algorithms. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/3 "2015-10-20T18:55:56Z")
Faces and license plates are blurred for privacy. I suspect that a face or license-plate detection algorithm has mistakenly misinterpreted the sign as a face or license plate. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/4 "2015-10-20T18:58:12Z")
My guess would be that they’re trying to avoid getting sued for unauthorized use of intellectual property, so they have an algorithm that tries to identify and blur out the words and logos on passing trucks, etc. Sometimes it messes up and blurs a road sign instead. Now, a lawsuit against Google for showing something that you were already displaying on a public road sounds pretty baseless, but it’s the sort of thing some people and businesses would do. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/5 "2015-10-20T19:02:51Z")
Blurring of interstate shields on road signs like that started when google updated their software to automatically blur images of faces and license plates several years ago. Some folks think that the software is mistaking the shield part of the sign for a face. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/6 "2015-10-20T19:14:27Z")
Ohio puts pictures of vaginas on its road signs and you have Safesearch turned on. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/7 "2015-10-20T19:19:07Z")
I wonder if the sign for Intercourse PA is blurred out. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/8 "2015-10-21T00:52:01Z")
Then sometimes it’s a little lax https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sj78W5aUEhlqVZNkeeKzA2g%212m2%211d41.4169518%212d-82.2089506%213f305.85%214f6.245%215f0.15 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/9 "2015-10-21T01:16:37Z")
Huh, **jtur88** , looks like you live right down the road from me! (where “right down” means “twenty-something miles” and “the road” means OH-2). And as a nitpick, that sign isn’t an interstate shield; it’s an outline of the state of Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/10 "2015-10-21T03:12:50Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Why does Google Streetview blur out some of the information on public signs? > Like this: > [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4168632,-82.2089526,3a,15y,236.2h,90.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCbO7osY4wc-EU8DCidFT3Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1) Note: If you back up from that point, and then zoom in, you’ll be able to read that sign clearly. But suddenly, the Days Inn sign behind it gets blurred! [Try it!](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4169518,-82.2089506,3a,15y,208.43h,89.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sj78W5aUEhlqVZNkeeKzA2g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/11 "2015-10-21T03:25:42Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > Then sometimes it’s a little lax > [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4169518,-82.2089506,3a,15y,305.85h,62.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sj78W5aUEhlqVZNkeeKzA2g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) I can’t help wondering why, if your car is parked in the street with your plate number clearly visible to anyone passing by, it would matter to you if it was legible on Streetview. Although I guess you wouldn’t want your wife to be surfing Google Maps and ask you why your car was parked in Trixie’s driveway. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurred-public-signs-on-streetview/735261/12 "2015-10-21T03:42:25Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I suspect that a face or license-plate detection algorithm has mistakenly misinterpreted the sign as a face or license plate. Nailed it. It’s especially irritating in Geoguessr, where many times I get to a street sign that could pinpoint my location, but it’s been blurred out. :mad: Also, the reason why Google Street View doesn’t exist yet in Turkey is because it’s a crime to “deface” the face of the current Prime Minister, whose face appears in billboards and advertisements all over the place. Since the software often blurs out his face automatically (and counts as “defacement”) each instance would have to be corrected manually.