The Risks, page-35

Thanks for that post Taconinga, most informative.

Due to the complexity of images of the earth's surface, I'd say the 11 bits per pixel would be conservative, as compression is limited with diverse image and colour, except possibly for photos of calm sea or clouds.

Satellite imagery is not set up for, intended for or even capable of processing the amount of photo data that would be required to compete with Nearmap's product, which is images a few days old, and over a large populated areas. It is suitable for looking at very small areas at a time, booked by timeslot and you have to wait in line, (my mate was quoted three months as I mentioned earlier) and probably have to wait some time for the images to be processed after capture.