Google Maps – Why Street Signs Are Blurred

google mapsstreet-view

I was searching StreetView in the UK for a particular road sign but when I got to the location I saw this:

blurred street sigh

Why has Google blurred out the street name, but only one part of the street name?

Other views haven't blurred out the name, but in those the sign is either further away or more edge on.

I can't be for privacy reasons – after all knowing where you are is the point of Street View.

Best Answer

Google Maps: Street View: Privacy and Security (UK version)

Individuals and license plates are blurred

We have developed cutting-edge face and license plate blurring technology that is applied to all Street View images. This means that if one of our images contains an identifiable face (for example that of a passer-by on the sidewalk) or an identifiable license plate, our technology will automatically blur it out, meaning that the individual or the vehicle cannot be identified. If our algorithms missed something, you can easily let us know.

I bet that it's a false-positive for a license plate. You could always use the "Report a problem" link at the bottom of the page.

(For what it's worth, it's blurred for me here in the U.S.)

From the Google Maps support forum:

All faces, licenses plates, etc. are blurred to protect privacy. Sometimes false images such as the sign you discovered gets picked up and blurred. This is an automated process and is not reversible.

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