# Google Earth weird zone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811 "2010-12-03T14:50:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/1 "2010-12-03T14:50:33Z")
38° 04’ 06.20" N 122° 33’ 37.56" W Near Novato, CA along the road there is a blurry area in residential housing. If one zooms in nearby and scrolls over to the weird zone, it auto-zooms out. I am familiar with the neighborhood… but as it is just residential, why the weird blurring/reflections? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/2 "2010-12-03T15:21:14Z")
And the blurred area increases the closer you get. There’s a similar, but not identical, blur in [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38%C2%B0+04%27+06.20%22+N,+122%C2%B0+33%27+37.56%22+W&sll=59.332788,18.064488&sspn=0.349524,0.883026&ie=UTF8&ll=38.068382,-122.560419&spn=0.002107,0.003449&t=h&z=18). Weird! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/3 "2010-12-03T15:27:20Z")
Maybe it is where [Dick Cheney](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/07/what-is-google/) lives now. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/4 "2010-12-03T15:28:34Z")
It looks like the altitude information is goofed up - it’s showing like there’s a wall around that area. Strange! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/5 "2010-12-03T15:38:14Z")
Actually, looking at the Maps version anyway, it looks to me as though someone may have spilled something on the photograph. Apparently a lot (maybe all) of the imagery is actually created by rephotographing actual physical photographs, taped together. It seems very low tech for Google, but it seems to be so. In some places you can actually [see the tape](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=53.787672,109.454727&spn=0.288016,0.617294&t=h&z=11). ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/6 "2010-12-03T16:51:26Z")
[Bing has the unadulterated map](http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=304-310%20Marin%20Oaks%20Dr%2C%20Novato%2C%20CA%2094949-5438&q=304-310%20Marin%20Oaks%20Dr%2094949&encType=1). [It’s a vacation rental home](http://www.google.com/maps/place?cid=16330791582461741442&q=304-310+marin+oaks+drive+novato,ca+94949&fb=1&gl=us). ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/7 "2010-12-03T16:58:26Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > [Bing has the unadulterated map](http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=304-310%20Marin%20Oaks%20Dr%2C%20Novato%2C%20CA%2094949-5438&q=304-310%20Marin%20Oaks%20Dr%2094949&encType=1). > > [It’s a vacation rental home](http://www.google.com/maps/place?cid=16330791582461741442&q=304-310+marin+oaks+drive+novato,ca+94949&fb=1&gl=us). Good find, I was going to say… google street view works fine and it doesn’t look like a fancy neighborhood so I doubt there is some national secret hidden there. But then again, maybe it’s Dick Cheney’s vacation home, the one where Satan stays when he drops in for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/8 "2010-12-03T17:00:11Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Actually, looking at the Maps version anyway, it looks to me as though someone may have spilled something on the photograph. Apparently a lot (maybe all) of the imagery is actually created by rephotographing actual physical photographs, taped together. It seems very low tech for Google, but it seems to be so. In some places you can actually [see the tape](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=53.787672,109.454727&spn=0.288016,0.617294&t=h&z=11). You mean there isn’t a 50 mile long, 1 mile wide runway that ends in the middle of Lake Baikal? Dang, that’s a funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/9 "2010-12-03T21:02:47Z")
[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate] You mean there isn’t a 50 mile long, 1 mile wide runway that ends in the middle of Lake Baikal? [/QUOTE] It’s the Russian “Bridge to Nowhere”. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/10 "2010-12-03T21:03:08Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Good find, I was going to say… google street view works fine and it doesn’t look like a fancy neighborhood so I doubt there is some national secret hidden there. But then again, maybe it’s Dick Cheney’s vacation home, the one where Satan stays when he drops in for advice. [mod note] Keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. You’ve been here over two years, you should know this isn’t allowed. [/mod note] ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/11 "2010-12-03T21:17:03Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > 38° 04’ 06.20" N > 122° 33’ 37.56" W > > Near Novato, CA along the road there is a blurry area in residential housing. If one zooms in nearby and scrolls over to the weird zone, it auto-zooms out. > > I am familiar with the neighborhood… but as it is just residential, why the weird blurring/reflections? If you slant the view in Google Earth, you can see that it thinks the altitude around the perimiter of that area is much higher than it really is. The reason it won’t let you zoom in farther is that your eye view would be lower than GE thinks the land’s elevation is, so it backs off. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-weird-zone/562811/12 "2010-12-04T18:00:36Z")
In Google Street view there is a black limo at the address on the smaller road. I was in the area about a year ago and didn’t notice a 1/2 acre, 1000-foot-high mesa. 😃