Has Making Your Home Visible on Google Maps Made You a Potential Target?

With the issue of home break ins remaining a prominent topic in the news lately, it reminded me of something I saw reported almost two years ago; in 2024.

It had to do with home burglaries and how it was speculated that being visible via Google Maps could potentially be a reason for more home break ins, considering the degree of details that the app makes available to the user.

This supposition clearly has a lot of merit to it.

According to statistics, in the U.S., approximately every 26 seconds a home burglary occurs. This 2026 stat further indicates that a whopping 66% of the residential properties targeted in burglaries brazenly occur during daytime hours.

The newscast I previously viewed back then, discussed a possible deterrence against burglaries for worried homeowners, due to reports about so many break ins.

According to the commentator; today’s criminals are getting much more sophisticated, particularly in the way they do their preparation for home burglaries.

Thanks to technology and the varied choices of digital toys and tools, it’s become much easier for criminals to pull off successful home break ins, especially in affluent neighborhoods.

The bold attempt on the former president’s life in 2024 was a demonstration of just how effective a simple drone (that’s easily accessible), is more than capable of doing damage in the hands of a person with corrupt intent.

The same is true regarding the abundance of digital surveillance equipment that anyone can readily buy over-the-counter or online.

Everything from Wi-Fi sniffers to detect any vulnerabilities in targeted smart homes, to signal jammers used to disable the property's cameras.

Additional digital designs employed by today's home burglars involve the use of tech such as 3D-printed keys. They go so far as to spoof smart locks, and position hidden cameras so they can stake out homes, undetected.

It makes sense to suspect that next level home burglars would include in their arsenal of digital advantages, any benefits to be gained from the use of Google Maps.

Not only do they get the benefit of “casing” the properties worthy of their attention, but the various angles provided by Google Maps, can potentially help with logistics and strategic planning of the break ins and getaways.

With such clever and technically advanced criminals at large, it’s no wonder that the idea of hiding your home on Google Maps might sound like a great way to help deter burglars.

According to the reporting about this interesting option offered by Google, by selecting to blur your home and property online, this could possibly help prevent your house from being singled out as a target.

One law enforcement officer interviewed, admitted not having known about the option Google makes available. He stated that it seemed like a good idea and could possibly be a deterrent to potential break ins.

How to blur your home on Google

If you decide it sounds like a good idea to blur your home on Google, the process is simple, but there are a few things you need to know.

If you previously submitted the current photo of your home or property to Google, and you want the photo blurred, it’s up to you to:

1) Remove the photo

2) Blur it yourself or upload and resubmit another photo that is blurred.

HOWEVER:

If Google is the owner of the current photo, you will need to report a photo or request it to be blurred. You can request to blur photos that display:

1) Your face

2) Your home

3) Other identifying information.

In the event you need to have Google blur a photo, it’s easy to send a request.

Simply:

→ Go and open Google Maps

→ Locate and open the 360 photo of the property

→ Click on the ”Report a problem” link (Bottom right)

→ Complete the form and click “Submit”

Google says they will review your report as quickly as they can. Be sure to include your email address on the form, in case they need to contact you for more information or they want to provide you with a status report.

Final Thoughts

As was mentioned in the opening paragraph, it was 2024 when Google first made this information available, but presumably, the details still apply.

When you think about the option of blurring your home or property, in hopes that it will be a deterrent to burglars, there are actually split views on how good an idea it really is.

• On the one hand, it seems like a good way to hide or blur anything that might give off the impression that your home would make a good target.

• But on the other hand, blurring your image will make it stand out from the other photos near your location. That could end up drawing more attention than if it weren’t blurred.

Will blurring suggest to a criminal that this is the house or property they should be targeting?

Clearly, this is something to give a lot of thought to, if you think you might want to take advantage of blurring your home on Google Maps. For more details, see: Google Maps Help

Thanks for reading…