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KH-8 resolution is "0.5m". That is analogue as well as they used photographic film in them.

This is "0.5m" resolution (from GeoSat-1).

http://geoeyemediaportal.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/images/gall...

There is no reading automobile license plates from space (a common misleading claim about spy satellites since the 1960s) at that resolution, not to mention that the viewing angle is all wrong for that. Thanks for sharing the photo to add an example to this discussion.

As several comments above have pointed out, Google Maps misleads the public by referring to aerial photos taken from airplanes as a "satellite" view of the ground. Studying imagery of my own neighborhood on Google Maps makes clear that the images at close-in views must come from airplanes. The particular walking path I take from my house to the local public library is very clearly visible, but again there is no hope of reading automobile license plates from those photographs.

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