Mystery spot on Google Maps?

[The Carnivore]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

My guess is a missile facility of some sort.

I did find some news articles like this one from August about the Chinese building SAM bases near Lake Manasarovar. The Kailash-Manasarovar region is sacred to adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jaonism, and Bon-po. The "mystery spot" is about 10 miles from Mount Kailash.

I don't know if this indicates anything, but the pixelated area doesn't appear to be visible from Kailash even though it's not too far away.

I do question the wisdom of obscuring aerial photos of military facilities on Google and therefore calling attention to those sites. Many governments have better spy satellites than what Google has, so it's not like the CIA would look at Google Maps instead of their own classified satellite imagery. If I were a country looking to spy on China, I'd move that area closer to the top of my priority list and monitor it more often.

Besides, most of the exciting stuff happens underground.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by retina

It's probably just a flaw in the image file.

Don't believe this guy! He tries to throw you off so you won't find his evil lair.

[EdH]

Decoy? Look! What's that?

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by The Carnivore

While randomly browsing Google Maps, I came across an area in southwest China that has been pixelated out even though it appears to be in the middle of nowhere:..

What are the coordinates? Lon/Lat or GPS will work.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by storm5510

What are the coordinates? Lon/Lat or GPS will work.

Click on the google maps link. It has the lat and long in it.

[storm5510]

I found it on Google Earth. It looks no different.

31° 17' 31" N, 81° 14' 41" E.

I would guess a military base since it is so close to Pakistan and India. They (China) were probably hoping no one would notice. It is under the red dot in the second image.

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by storm5510

I found it on Google Earth. It looks no different.
31° 17' 31" N, 81° 14' 41" E.

Those coordinates seem to be a bit off. The correct location is at 31°12'44.8"N, 81°13'33.5"E (31.212446, 81.225979).

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by MooMoo2

Those coordinates seem to be a bit off. The correct location is at 31°12'44.8"N, 81°13'33.5"E (31.212446, 81.225979).

I rounded mine down to remove the decimal portion. They get the map in the general location close enough to be seen. If not, zoom out a bit. All the fractional expanse to six digits beyond the decimal point is really not necessary. Two places would do. Google Earth does not display it as a decimal number, at least, not that I have seen. Only D, M, and S.