Google Maps has a hidden feature that allows anyone to zoom in extremely close on some satellite pictures. This screenshot shows the closest zoom available for a location in the Sahara desert. Using this hidden feature, you can zoom in a little closer in almost any Metropolitan area, and MUCH closer in select areas.
Here's Google Blogoscoped's instructions on utilizing this feature:
1. Select a location and switch to satellite view
2. Zoom in as far as you can, and click “link to this page†at the top right
3. Now replace the “z†parameter in the URL with a higher value, e.g. 20, 22, or 23, and wait. Some locations will now show more detailed imagery
Since people are good at identifying faces at low resolutions, someone should be able to identify the guy looking skyward in the upper right. My vote is that he's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, in hiding.
Click on the Link [Google Maps] to navigate the rest of this location. Via Google Blogoscoped
However there is a beach in Sydney with similar dress requirements that is located in Google Maps: Beach Zoom-In.
I'll leave the zooming to you ;)
Here's the URL of the above map, with the z parameter highlighted:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=15.298683
+19.429651&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=23&ll=15.298601,19.42964
&spn=0.002137,0.002849&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr
On most Google locations, the highest this goes is z=18 or so, but you can often change it manually.
Did he hear the click as the satellite took his picture?
Even military grade satellites couldn't provide an image nearly this crisp (this image has a resolution of ~1cm per pixel. The best military spy satellites are at best 5cm per pixel, but more likely 10-20cm).
I initially thought it was a satellite too until I did the calculations. Even the Hubble Space Telescope could only produce a picture with a 5-8cm / pixel resolution. To get to 1cm, the government would have needed to build a telescope that was ~8 times wider than Hubble, which wouldn't be feasible.
I thought they could read the brand of a cigarette pack with them spy satellites... Ain't you from the Government ? ;)
I'm pretty sure I heard that most satelitte cams take two shots. One high-res b&w shot for the detail, and a lower quality color shot for the coloring. The slight delay between the pictures means high-speed targets get shot in two locations. The "ghost" occurs when the two images are merged.
Sorry I don't have a source, and don't remember where I heard it, so I could be completely off.
OR IS IT??