Taxes could get sky-high with aerial technology

[Sassy]

Taxes could get sky-high with aerial technology
A new high-tech aerial photography system that can spot an illegal porch from 5,000 feet is being marketed to tax assessors as a way to grow revenue.

Pictometry International Corp. says it offers tax assessors 12 different views of every square foot of building or land in a jurisdiction that buys their system. They call it "sophisticated visual intelligence."

State Sen. Jeff Van Drew has another name for it.

"It's Big Brother," said Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/181/story/270635.html

[John Raabe]

Hummmm.... One of the downsides of the Google Earth phenomenon.

Pretty soon the space bots will be able to identify who is visiting your house and if it is time to get a haircut! 

[Redoverfarm]

Give an at-a-boy to Glenn.  Can't see anything but dirt , grass or garden. 

[desdawg]

Speaking of Big Brother I saw an interesting program on TV the other night called Big Brother-Big Business. It talked about a lot of subjects that have been mentioned here such as the GPS capabilities of your cell phone and the little black box in your automobile (it is part of the air bag system) that could get you speeding tickets without the cop being present. It also mentioned that every topic you Google is kept on file and can be used in court if you are ever arrested for a crime and researched it first (there were some examples of that given in the program). We are being watched in this electronic age.

[glenn kangiser]

Yup - they know it all -I have a few spots showing - they can be covered but I want to harvest rainwater - Camo-paint job?

[ScottA]

Camo nets.

[MikeC]

Several years ago I saw camo parachutes (w/shrouds cut) for sale at a surplus store.  After asking the elderly woman running the place if there was much call for them, she said folks used them for camping so that they couldn't be spotted by air.

I thought it paranoia at the time.  i don't now.

[MountainDon]

Here's a link to the compnies website Gallery Page

http://www.pictometry.com/knowledge/gallery.shtml

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Here a while back, I decided to look at our house in WI on google earth.  Lo and behold, when I clicked on the street view, there I was playing with the dog in the north yard.  The snowflakes my kids cut out of paper were hanging quite visibly in the window.  You could read the street number on the mailbox and see that the flag was up with outgoing mail.  You could even see the crack in the window of our Impala which was parked near the street.  I think it is a total invasion of privacy, no matter how cool it is.  Of course, I've also used Google earth to check out potential properties here, but as they've been rural properties, all I can see is an arial view and not a street view, at least. 

[benevolance]

the camo parachute is a great idea.

[benevolance]

And I stated months ago that I felt that we were being violated with this aerial photo stuff... They should need property owners permissions to publish photos or information about our homes on the internet....It was named private property for a reason...

I just hope someone here comes up with a way to kill satellites....I bet they would cry foul then....

[MountainDon]

I look at the aerial/satellite views as a two way street, give and take.

I like being able to use satellite images in conjunction with topo maps for planning excursions into the backcountry. In fact one of my complaints is that some of the mountain images around here and in some of my favorite parts of UT are not detailed enough. They are a very handy tool.

I was initially upset about Google Street View. However, the street numbers they give don't match the actual address. Yes, it's close, however the images don't reveal anything that you couldn't see if you drove by. I'm not trying to hide anything.

As for the state/county using the aerial images for property tax or zoning code enforcement, I'd rather they don't do that. However, I know that sooner or later the county tax assessor office will reassess our land because of the improvements we've made. It's inevitable and when that time arrives we'll deal with it then.

I've used Google Earth and Google Map/Street View countless times. As I stated, I find it a very valuable tool. I am willing to trade that utility for a few images of my properties.

OMMV

[benevolance]

I am okay with abolishing google earth and the other sites to restore my property rights.

trouble is that the government for years has had this technology and only recently with privitization of technology and satellites do we see just how much  they control and know about us and how little privacy or property rights we truly have.