TerraServer's still kicking. I'm looking to rent a house so I've been doing virtual neighborhood checks with their 6" resolution (0.1524 meter)flyover pics. A house is about 75 x 150 pixels, and you can tell what kind of stuff there is in the backyard (tents, trees, big swing sets), how the landscaping's done, whether the neighbors are obnoxiously close). There're several data providers who collected images at various dates between 1993 and 2005(!) for my area. Interesting to compare places over time. One of the better ones of a house I like was taken in early afternoon, judging by the shadows. There's probably an optimum window for this kind of photography, where there are enough shadows to provide contrast, but they're not so long that they obscure detail.

Oh, you have to pay $10 for the privelege of the hi-res photos. Still cheaper than driving everywhere.