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If you look closely enough on Google or Bing Maps, some places are blanked out, hidden from public view. Many of those places disguise secret or sensitive American military facilities. The United States military has a foothold in every corner of the world, with military bases on every continent. It's not even clear how many there are out there. The Pentagon says there are around 5,000 in total, and 598 in foreign countries, but those numbers are disputed by the media. But how do these facilities look from above? To answer that question, you first need to locate the bases. Which, as it turns out, is relatively easy. That's what Josh Begley, a data artist, found out when he embarked on a project to map all known U.S. military bases around the world, collect satellite pictures of them using Google Maps and Bing Maps, and display them all online. The project, which he warns is ongoing, was inspired by Trevor Paglen's book "Blank Spots on the Map" which goes inside the world of secret military bases that are sometimes censored on maps. "I wanted to apply this to a digital landscape," Begley told Mashable. "What are the actual blind spots of Google Maps or Bing Maps? Which installations are secret and which can be viewed on the open Internet?" Begley has found the coordinates for 650 bases, and published pictures for 644 of them — although a few are blacked out, not displayed, or blurred. He started working on the project at the beginning of November, simply armed with the Department of Defense 2013 Base Structure Report, an inventory of all the real estate owned by the Pentagon around the world, a few media reports that uncovered secret bases, and a computer script he had used last year to make another mapping project that displayed aerial pictures of U.S. prisons.
alldaylong
reply to post by GArnold
Countries around The World ( especially the poorer ones) want these bases because it brings in additional revenue.
They don't see it as a military issue but an economic one.
woodwardjnr
There's a US base about 2miles from my house that isn't on that map. It works alongside RAF Croughton which is on the map, part of the GCHQ, NSA shiz.
pikestaff
alldaylong
reply to post by GArnold
Countries around The World ( especially the poorer ones) want these bases because it brings in additional revenue.
They don't see it as a military issue but an economic one.
Not much revenue, those bases fly or ship in, everything they need, from food to gasoline, I bet every base has a PX,
so the local income does not get much.
Thecakeisalie
reply to post by GArnold
But if you want ultimate secrecy there is one place that no one would take at second glance at...
72.0000° N, 40.0000° W
What "ultimate secrecy" do you propose is hidden in the middle of Greenland?
GArnold
Is there 5000 Hospitals in the US?
according to the American Hospital Association, in 2009 with all the different kinds of hospitals combined there are a total of 5,795 hospitals in the us. Of those over 5,000 are community hospitals.
Is there 5000 Homeless shelters?
allenidaho
Whenever the US opens a military base outside of a war zone, it always stimulates the income of a few key members of the local population. Hookers, drug dealers, liquor stores and fast food joints.
SLAYER69
reply to post by MrSpad
Stop trying to derail this thread with facts!
allenidaho
Whenever the US opens a military base outside of a war zone, it always stimulates the income of a few key members of the local population. Hookers, drug dealers, liquor stores and fast food joints.
The meek shall inherit the Earth.