What needs to be done, technologically, to have real-time Google maps, so we can see things as they are now? (taking into account the time it takes for an image to be captured and transmitted and received)
No real technology improvements are required. All we’d need are tens of thousands of satellites to take all the pictures, instead of the couple-dozen there are now.
Once world GDP gets to be 100x what it is today that’ll be affordable. Right now, not so much.
Actually, all the close images are taken by airplane. Maybe if we outfitted every plane with a camera, and linked them all to a giant real-time database we could get part of the way there.
A lot of people I know, especially those who haven’t used it, think Google Earth works in real-time.
We managed to convince my friends’ daughter that this was true, and said, “Go outside and wave your arms, and we’ll watch you”, and she did… 
Some people are so silly. Did they stop to consider what that would take? “Ever been in a TV studio and seen the cameras? Yea, multiply that by 80 bajillion million.”
The land area of earth is about 150 million square miles. To cover all that at 1-meter resolution would require 1.5x10[sup]14[/sup] pixels.
Let’s say by “real-time” we would settle for 1 image per hour. We need about 160 satellites in low earth orbit, each equipped with a large telescope (close to 1 meter aperture) with four 8000x8000 pixels detectors, each detector capable of acquiring 1 image every second. Each satellite generates 40 terabytes of data per day, so obviously data processing and downlink would be a significant challenge. But I think the biggest obstacle is the cost of building, launching and operating 160 satellites. Launch cost alone would be $8 billion (assuming $40 million per satellite).
If you want one image per second instead of one per hour, multiply the above by 3600.
Do you mean MAPS (that is street names, addresses, road characteristics needed for driving instructions) or SATELLITE/AERIAL IMAGES? The two are collected through entirely different processes and have totally different update schedules.
Ed
I think the OP meant images on “Google Maps,” which is a web site that provides both maps and aerial/satellite images.
I’d be happy with images that are less than 15 years old. Many of the pics/maps of the areas I Google are 10-15 years old.
Some beaches that I’ve Googled aren’t even around anymore.
The last pics of my area are really blurry. The old ones were much more clear even though they were older and didn’t reflect changes in buildings and streets etc.
For example, about a year ago, a whole new jughandle ramp was built near Newark Airport. This Google Map shows a photo of the motel and gas station which used to be there, and the map overlay shows the newly-built ramp.
Microsoft’s Live Search at the same location shows the new ramp under construction.
A related question: Is there any way to determine the age of a GoogleEarth image?