There does not seem to be anything "exclusive" about these images. They look like regular worldview 3 images that anybody can buy.

From TFA:

> The strange gap in imagery raises questions about who gets to access high-res satellite technology. And if the largest urban construction site on the planet doesn’t appear on Google Maps, what else can’t we see?

This is ridiculous. Commercial satellite images are sold everyday to thousands of buyers. You only need a credit card. Google maps is just not updated immediately with all these images that people buy.

I'm surprised at the low quality of these MIT "reporters".