Censorship of maps describes the way of handling the appearance of potential strategically important objects like military bases, power plants or transmitters towards their censorship on maps.The appearance of such objects on maps available to the public may be undesirable, so it is often attempted to conceal these locations on the map.
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A variant of censorship of maps is putting in wrong high values. This can be important for predicting flooding. In World War I many German soldiers were killed in Belgium after their camps were flooded, even though the maps used by German military indicated the camp sites were not prone to flooding.
Censorship of maps was also used in former East Germany, especially for the areas near the border to West Germany in order to make attempts of defection more difficult.
Censorship of maps is today still often applied, although it is less effective in the age of satellite picture services. A "dead map" is a term often applied to sensitive government maps that show the location of top secret facilities and other highly sensitive installations within a country. Russia the United States and Great Britain all have such maps.
Google Earth censors places that may be of special security concern. The following is a selection of such concerns:
Censorship of maps is also applied by Google maps, where certain areas are greyed out or areas are purposely left out-dated with old imagery.[7]
In Lebanon, all maps concerning the country are property of the Lebanese army and are issued by the Directory of Geographic affairs of the Lebanese military. it is considered a felony to reproduce whole or portions of maps without the permission of the military, although Maps can be issued to certain universities and urban design schools for use by students and can be issued to civilian upon presenting certain documents. A notice is written on the Maps prohibiting reproduction, copying or sale of the map and should be returned to the ministry of national defense upon its request. this policy is meant to prohibit terrorists, outlaws, and entities that are at war with Lebanon from obtaining those maps.
Lists of air traffic obstacles may not be published by many countries as many of them are strategically important (chimneys of power stations, radio masts, etc.)
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