PopPhoto.com has an article on how DigitalGlobe goes about collecting imagery for Google Earth. From the story:
When you launch GoogleEarth on your computer, you start in outer space and you miraculously zoom in. You might see two unsuspecting guys walking across the Blue Wonder Bridge way off in Dresden, Germany.
But the folks at Google Earth remind us that you’re not zooming in on just one picture. You’re actually going through a succession – seamlessly – of closer and closer shots, making the transition from a NASA shuttle shot to a satellite shot to a photograph made from an airplane. So that’s how they get such good close-up resolution.
The primary source of GoogleEarth images is, DigitalGlobe. They told Pop Photo how the system works.
