You’re not a real space or aviation nerd unless you’ve taken to a map service and zoomed on the historic NASA launch pads or your local Air Force Bases, just for fun, you know? However, a recent change to Apple Maps now has some of those locations blurred from view, blocking anyone from seeing fighters on tarmacs or rockets on launch pads.
It probably makes sense as a reasonable security measure, why should some of the most sensitive locations to the United States be easily seen from commercial services on anyone’s phone?
Not every base we’ve checked has been blurred. Some rather large US Navy installations like Pearl Harbor, Norfolk, and Naval Station Great Lakes are left unburied. As a Wisconsin resident, I checked my local Air National Guard bases, those two have been left clear to see.
What we have discovered are now blurred are a lot of NASA and US Space Force locations, including Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
This change looks to have been rather recent, with no announcement by Apple for the change. On the contrary, Google Maps, has not blurred any of these military locations. It is presumed that Apple will continue to role out blurred map changes to more bases in the future.
Apple’s choice for which locations to blur first is interesting. Whiteman Air Force Base, the location of the bulk of the Air Force’s B2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, is logically blurred from view. Ellsworth Air Force Base, one of two state-side homes of the B-1B stealth bomber, both nuclear capable and can carry the most payload than any other US bomber, is also blurred. However, Dyess Air Force Base, the second home of the B-1B and Barksdale, home of the vast majority of the 74 year old and still kicking B-52s, are not blurred.
It’s no surprise that Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (featured image), is parent base Patricks Space Force Base, and Vandenberg Space Force Base are all blurred. These locations are home to the bulk of military owned launch pads and house some of the world’s most advanced and secretive satellites ever built.
But no need to worry too much, for now it seems that Kennedy Space Center and its historic launch pads, LC-39A and LC-39B, is not blurred. That doesn’t mean NASA isn’t on the list, Wallops Flight Facility, a primarily civil research focused air field owned by NASA is blurred, but it’s launch pads, also owned by NASA, are not.
Finally, two other locations that may be top on the list of online map explorers, Groom Lake (Area 51) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory and also now blurred.
Without a formal announcement from Apple, we aren’t sure how quickly the company plans to blur over future bases; and if it’s just highly sensitive facilities or if all government locations are on the list to be blurred.
Some questions that I now have are how navigation works on these blurred bases. Does Apple CarPlay work still? Or if military personnel and civilians working at these bases need to find a new service for on base navigation needs.
