Wow, cows from space. And I bet the military version can count the flys on their turds.
There's a few other spots it seems where you can see pretty nice resolution.
Check out the Sydney Australia harbour area and parts of Manhatten for examples.
They are looking at the plane as it flew overhead. These are not satellite pictures. Google and Microsoft hire survey companies that fly planes around and get much more precise pictures than can be obtained by satellite.
Some places are too boring to take pictures of. No one wants to pay the survey companies for the imagery. In these areas, Google and Microsoft use satellite imagery.
They are looking at the plane as it flew overhead. These are not satellite pictures. Google and Microsoft hire survey companies that fly planes around and get much more precise pictures than can be obtained by satellite.
Some places are too boring to take pictures of. No one wants to pay the survey companies for the imagery. In these areas, Google and Microsoft use satellite imagery.
I don't get it though - that tiny image is the only one at that zoom level for the entire area. 1 clear patch of ground, in a huge sea of blurry crap and you have to scroll waaaaaay out to even figure out where it is.