In the book "War and Cinema," theorist and critic Paul Virilio suggests that the art of war is really the art of the image. Satellites are part of an information gathering continuum that, beginning with the telescope, has now progressed to the latest deep space observatories. So, when Google democratized satellite imagery, people everywhere had access to their own personal high ground. Architects have always favoured high-altitude like views of their projects. Providing clients with an analytic view of a site's context is somehow so reassuring in its omnipotence.

If you're interested in seeing what your part of the city looks from 100 kilometres or so, go to geology.com