[driftdiver]

This photo was taken with a smartphone. Its not 64sq km but its a smartphone.

http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/89255-image/Nokia-Lumia-1020-official-samples-from-the-41-megapixel-camera.jpg

[TexasRepublic]

That picture is impressive for a smartphone, to be sure. That’s only a few city blocks though. Twenty-five square miles is a LOT of area to photograph by comparison.

However, I’m still sceptical. The article said the airplane would fly at 30 kilometers altitude, that’s over 15 miles high. It would require tremendous resolution to correctly identify and accurately track a car any for distance, through traffic and particularly overhead obstacles, such as buildings, shadows, trees, overpasses, etc. Forget trying to track pedestrians from that height. Maybe on a barren desert, but not in a city.