Presumably you are talking about the vector dataset? I think most of the raster imagery comes from commercial aerial imagery sources (certainly they have no mon

Presumably you are talking about the vector dataset? I think most of the raster imagery comes from commercial aerial imagery sources (certainly they have no monopoly whatsoever on that). I think there are other global vector datasets that are broadly comparable, no? Streetview excepted. Maybe also worth pointing out that Google's record in geo isn't without its failures.