Google, however, will receive imagery in 50-centimeter resolution because of a government restriction and the fact that it's not the only customer who benefits from GeoEye-1. They're sharing it with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; which collects and analyses geospatial data in support of national security. Translated, that means they get the really good stuff. Real spies probably have their own, even more advanced satellites, though. Speaking to Wired, Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing, said that GeoEye-1 is
"the opposite of a spy satellite. Spies don't put info on the internet and sell imagery. We're an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground."
The important fact is that GeoEye-1 is up and running, collecting imagery for Google Maps which will soon start looking like the image below. Time for a new round of mapspotting!