I have noticed that many airports are blurred or not as sharp in detail as they are in most states outside of New York. There are a couple in the New York City area, Westchester County, KJFK and KLGA for sure, but others like Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and others are not. Plattsburg also has sharp features. Does anyone have any idea why out of curiosity?

I think you've got it backwards :( Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo are severely blurred while LGA, JFK, and Westchester are crisp and clear. I suspect somebody at the FAA or state of New York decided having the airports clear was a security risk and asked Google to blur them. Google of course protested as usual and made a compromise by blurring some airports but leaving the big ones that most people will immediately look for (LGA and JFK) clear.That isn't what actually happened as far as I know just my guess, other places have been blurred by Google for security reasons.

I don't have it backwards as much as worded in a way to make it seem I have it backwards. Plattsburg International (formally Plattsburg AFB), KLGA, KJFK and Westchester are sharp in detail as you noted, while darn near every other airport in NY are blurred. 

Ah ok I reread it now and it makes sense now that it isn't late at night :( Also, I looked it up and I found a few articles where some NY politicians were voicing concerns about security risks by having airports (along with power plants, skyscrapers, etc.) clearly visible.I also found it's also Google's policy to give let whoever is concerned blur their own picture and then send it in and Google will add it in as is. There's probably more to this story but from some of the articles it looks like SYR and BUF have been blurred for at least 4 years.Hope this answers your question!

Yeah, the power plant at Niagara Falls is blurred too.While power plants are not normally flown over, airports can be either overflown or passed close enough that if someone really wanted to case one. Larger airports like JFK, KBUF and the like are a bit more difficult, but can be done so that blows any politician's arguments out of the water. I wonder if NASA's World Wind are blurred too?  :(

I think it's the source data. I don't think Google uses the same resolution data everywhere. New York metro area looks like a higher resolution area then either Albany or Syracuse. It's more noticeable at an airport because of the markings.

KROC doesn't look much different than the surrounding area. The only thing I've seen that's obviously messed with in the US (other than Whitehouse) is Aberdeen Proving Ground (KAPG).scott s..

Hhhmmm .............. Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse look ok to me, maybe someone at Google read this thread and fixed it :(

Hhhmmm .............. Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse look ok to me, maybe someone at Google read this thread and fixed it :(

No, just look at the runway markings. Not clear at all, though when I say it's the airport markings that make the problem more noticeable.

Yeah I see what you mean now. Although saying that, I can read the runway markings at Buffalo etc, but they aren't as sharp as say JFK. Looks to my untrained eye, like an image issue rather than some deliberate attempt to alter them.

Outside of the handful I noted above, darn near all airports in NY lack sharp detail. A good example is Clinton County barely 2 miles from Plattsburg. Albany International, Elimra Regional, Binghamton, Tompkins County, Watertown International, Canadaigua and Akron all share the same blurred runways and buildings as the larger airports in NY. Griffiss AFB, Genesse County, Eagle Ridge (grass strip), Schenectady County (ANG base) and Adirondack Regional are as sharp as KJFK and Westchester County. There really is no rhyme or reason as to which airport gets blurred or not. You can tell it is just the airport as if you look right across the street from an airport, there is nice, sharp detail again. This is not an image issue, as at one, You could see 2 different images used and both show blurry imaging yet as noted, the area just off the airport is in sharp detail.