Google denies APEC reason for fuzzy maps
 

MUCH of Sydney's city centre as it appears in the satellite images on Google Maps Australia has been fuzzed out, just weeks before the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.

Google says the imagery was downgraded as a result of a "commercial issue" with a supplier, but there is speculation it was done at the request of police in order to minimise the risk of a terrorist attack during the September summit, where Sydney will host 21 world leaders including the US President, George Bush.

Google has in the past been accused of censoring its maps due to national security concerns by governments, most recently in June when it updated its maps of Washington DC, but maintained older, blurry images for most of the downtown area.

Users of Google Maps Australia could previously zoom in for satellite views as close as 25 metres above the ground in much of Sydney, but now maps of the CBD are blurry even when zoomed out to 300 metres. Where individual people, tree branches and garbage bin lids were once visible, the View the full story