Did you ever wonder why military bases and other important features are imaged in high-res but the surrounding areas are not? When you look at Google Maps or Google Earth you've undoubtedly noticed neat strips and squares of high-res imagery.
This is because someone, somewhere, has ordered up the imagery so they can get a closer look at what is going on. Once the image is bought and paid for Google Earth gets it from Digital Globe, Space Imaging, etc. and posts that image portion to their site.
It costs quite a bit of money to get satellite imagery so the satellite owners aren't giving this stuff away for free. SOMEBODY is interested in what's going on at these places.
I assume it was a keyboard entry by some data entry person entering a clients request. Oops, left off a minus sign and you got... water instead of a missile silo.
This is because someone, somewhere, has ordered up the imagery so they can get a closer look at what is going on. Once the image is bought and paid for Google Earth gets it from Digital Globe, Space Imaging, etc. and posts that image portion to their site.
It costs quite a bit of money to get satellite imagery so the satellite owners aren't giving this stuff away for free. SOMEBODY is interested in what's going on at these places.
http://news.google.com/maphp?hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=35.176053,-165.149231&spn=12.810357,20.610352
I assume it was a keyboard entry by some data entry person entering a clients request. Oops, left off a minus sign and you got... water instead of a missile silo.