Originally Posted By: UTAlumnus
Google Earth resolution depends on the source. If the light is hitting it right, you can even see some of the power lines in the current image they use of my house. Older images range from off color & slightly fuzzy to very fuzzy.
GE uses a wide variety of imagery from many sources. The higher resolution stuff is mostly conventional air photography from a wide variety of public domain sources (USGS, states, municipalities, etc). The satellite imagery is mostly SPOT, with about 2.5 meter resolution. The Wikipedia article on Google Earth has good info.

Since GE images will generally date from before a person became lost, they will be useless for spotting a lost person directly. However GE images can be very useful as a look at terrain and man made features for search planning. It is often used for that purpose.

To try to use imagery for spotting a lost person by "crowd sourcing" one would need high resolution images acquired after the person became lost. Apparently this was what was tried in the search mentioned in the OP.
_________________________
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz