[grepfruit]

The specs site mentions resolution of 0.82 meters panchromatic - would that be per pixel? And if so, how come the images at Google Maps have higher resolution?

[olefoo]

Google uses a variety of data sets, including regular aerial photography and multiple remote sensing products. If houses and cars look sharp at the highest zoom, you're probably looking at aerial photography.

[grepfruit]

Exactly, and the plane's image contains small objects above that resolution threshold, so it seems that is wasn't taken by the Ikonos system.