The closest to live images are the GEOS weather satellite images, available from a number of sites. These are very low resolution. High resolution satellite imagery is available only to the military and intelligence services, as the ability to zoom in on a particular area requires the satellite's orbit be altered, a very expensive proposition.
Sources like Google Earth use images from many sources, primarily aerial photography (from airplanes rather than satellites). Higher resolution imagery is sometimes available on a local basis. For example, Simcoe County, in which I live, has an interactive mapping service online, which uses relatively up-to-date (April 2008) colour aerial photographs of the entire county. This is far more detailed and up-to-date than images of the same area in Google Earth. In fact the image of my area there must be at least 20 years old, based on what can be seen of highway construction.
