New Google Maps Website

How is this any different to the Google maps we already know..? Can't see anything different..? The traffic of course won't work here.

Ah - article in The Age suggests that additional features like driving directions and "nearest business" have been added to make it functionally equivalent to the US version.

So queries like "pizza near carnegie" return all the pizza shops near Carnegie VIC.

There is no time limit.

Google have financial or other arrangements with many organisations to receive satellite imagery.

Most of these organisations are commercial or government agencies so Google would have to pay for imagery or wait until it is released to them.

Updated imagery usually only becomes available if a customer pays an organisation such as SPOT to conduct a specific tasking of a specific area or a government agency has an interest in an area.

If no imagery has been taken then you will only be able to view the green tinted low resolution LANDSAT radar images. Take a look at the UK. There is very little imagery available in comparison to Australia even considering the huge difference in land mass. My assumption would be that searching for mineral wealth is conducted by imagery first as it is cheaper than mounting expeditions into the outback with no guarantee of success.

Cheers ... Taz