Just because Planet Labs can do a little bit of this today, doesn't mean that for the past 15 years, Google's "Satellite" map had anything to do with real satellites.
Google literally lied to the world here, and screwed up the worldview of many millions of people.
I would have preferred "aerial view" or even "bird mode" as well, but I think the negative impact of calling it "satellite view" is somewhat overstated here. It's not as if without Google Maps the general public would be much better informed about the limitations of satellite footage: spy thrillers and Hollywood have a long history of dramatizing their capabilities.
“Satellite” view has way better resolution than 3-5 meters in most places. That resolution would indicate that there might be a car, whereas Google’s “satellite” view has enough detail that you can take a good stab at the make and model of each car you see.
