Blurring images

The purpose of the blurring tool is to allow users to step in if our automatic blurring algorithms fail. With the blur editor, you are able to blur parts of an image that have been missed.

In this article you can read about general blurring guidelines, using the blur editor, and how the blur requests get approved.

What to blur

From every request you submit, our algorithm can learn and improve. Therefore, it's good if you're careful with the blurs and follow our tips on what to blur.

What should be blurred:

• Faces
• Vehicle license plates
• Inappropriate or private parts of the image

What shouldn't be blurred:

• Whole people
• People from behind when the face is not seen
• Billboards, advertisements, brand labels
• Street, traffic and information signs

When viewing an image you can zoom in on it (using the mouse scroll), which means that details of the image may become sharper. Therefore, it may be necessary to blur more details than are visible when initially viewing the image. Ideally, we want to blur whatever is readable/recognizable when you zoom to the maximum in the image. This will be as sharp as it gets (so you won't later find another version of the image where you can see more clearly).

How to submit blur edits

To submit blur edits, select the triple-dot icon (...) when viewing an image on the Mapillary web, and then open the dropdown arrow next to "Advanced." Then, select "Edit blurs". You will enter the blur editor mode where you can add and review the blurs applied to the image.

The sidebar tracks blurs that are pending approval for the image you're currently viewing. 

If you want to add a new blur, click on the “Add new blurs” button, then draw a rectangle on the image to mark where the new blur should be. You need to also click on the “Approve” button to submit the new blur.

You can’t edit a blur’s shape or location so if you want to correct something, just reject the current blur and add a new one.

Admin review

Blurs will get reviewed by a Mapillary admin before actual blurring on the image is updated. You can change your pending blurs as long as they haven’t gone through review yet. Once a blur gets reviewed, it moves to the "Confirmed blurs" section in the sidebar and cannot be changed anymore. Blurs that admins reject will not be listed any longer. Due to cache, it may take up to 24 hours for the actual blurring to be updated on an image. Please allow a few days for your blur edits to take effect.