Doctored Google Earth Images: Is Google Helping China Falsify Information?

A dam located about 100 km NE of Lhasa, known as the Zhikhong Dam, is mysteriously vague in Google Earth (GE). A new high-resolution image in GE shows the area including the large reservoir, but the precise location of dam and power station is a low-resolution image, and the boundary between them is curved. It is possible to see strips of old images between new images in GE but in this case it fits the end of the reservoir exactly, and the boundary between the two images is curved, which is unusual.

A jpg image of the region taken from GE is posted here (below). I don't know how to upload kmz files or links that will take readers directly into Google Earth. So readers interested in looking up more closely should use the coordinates at the bottom of the image. Going up closer to the location in GE is much more convincing than the jpg photo shared here.


I told this observation to a friend and colleague from Green College, who used to work for Google Maps, the amazing Ducky. She checked the images and found them suspicious. Upon her advice, we decided to alert Google Earth about this and to see their response.

What do you think is going on here? Is Google Earth covering up for China? Or is someone supplying GE with doctored images? Or may be someone in Google Earth is working against company policies?

Did you know that a giant alian bug was found in a part of Germany in GE?