> Google/Apple/Microsoft buy their data from private satellites
> Google/Apple/Microsoft buy their data from private satellites
The newer civilian satellites (a lot of them are dual-purpose military/civilian) are capable of resolutions below 1m. ~2m resolution satellite imagery has been available for over a decade now (e.g. the IKONOS and recent SPOT satellites).
I think (?) most of Google's imagery currently comes from the GeoEye-1 satellite, which they partially funded.
I'm certainly not disagreeing that the highest zoom levels in major cities are aerial photographs. The city-block level imagery available globally is from satellite, though.
For example, compare this (probably satellite, little building lean and ~1m resolution): http://goo.gl/maps/mJadH
To this (definitely aerial, lots of "lean" and ~10-20cm resolution): http://goo.gl/maps/WYnvE
Tokyo, Japan: https://www.google.com/maps?q=tokyo&ll=35.689143,139.695...
Tunis, Tunisia: https://www.google.com/maps?q=Tunis,+Tunisia&ie=UTF8&...
Monrovia, Liberia: https://www.google.com/maps?q=monrovia,+liberia&hl=en...
Niue (a tiny island nation 1,500 miles off the coast of New Zealand): https://www.google.com/maps?q=niue&hl=en&ll=-19.0103...
So yeah, I think it's pretty global.
Now that I look at it though, the Moscow one is pretty fuzzy...
You can detect the lines on the court because they're bright white on dark background. However, you can't tell if it's one line or two parallel white lines less than ~1m apart.
In other words, you can't accurately measure the width of an object less than the resolution of the imagery, even if you can tell that it's present.
The Niue imagery is ~1m resolution. If you hunt around a bit, you can find a few cars. Note that you can measure their width, but it's difficult to do.
Also except Tokyo these are all extremely low-res at my high-speed end, hinting towards Satellite imagery.