# Explain this gap in Google street view, Palo Alto

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 18, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163 "2015-01-18T14:03:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163/1 "2015-01-18T14:03:55Z")

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I recently did a thread asking about the blurring out of businesses in Germany in Google street view. I eventually learned how to blur out our house, which my husband did in a fit of defiance of our tech overlords.

This morning, I was trying to find a dimly-remembered little gourmet grocery in Palo Alto by using Google street view. It’s somewhere along a well-used, well-mapped out suburban street. It’s not among the palatial billionaire neighborhoods of Palo Alto. However, the blue line indicating street view coverage does not exist along one short block, and one small house in the middle of this blank space, as seen from down the block, is blurred out.

What’s up with that? The approximate address is 1579 Alma Street, Palo Alto, California. I use “classic maps” in Google street view, not the more modern version.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163/2 "2015-01-18T14:42:20Z")

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FBI safe house. Stand a little closer to the window so we can hear you better, please.

Or, road construction the day the camera truck went down that block. Note all the patches…

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163/3 "2015-01-18T14:48:14Z")

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> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Or, road construction the day the camera truck went down that block. Note all the patches…

If you go to the street view and ‘drive’ down that road, you can see the construction. It’s strange, because it looks like there’s still two way traffic, my guess is that they were just closing the road when the Google Car showed up.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163/4 "2015-01-18T14:53:36Z")

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Maybe Dick Cheney moved into the neighborhood.

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8716026#post8716026](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8716026#post8716026)

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-gap-in-google-street-view-palo-alto/710163/5 "2015-01-18T15:10:47Z")

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Possibly the residents feel even stronger about their tech overlords than your husband. Just a little blurring wouldn’t do for them!

Or, y’know, street construction!