Here’s a great collection of satellite images of islands: Islands from the air: Stunning photographs taken from space show Earth’s archipelagos as you’ve never seen them before – Mail Online. (Note that the images were not made “from thousands of miles away” but typically from satellites circling the earth orbit at at around 400 miles (700km) above the earth’s surface.

Nukuoro Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia

 Another of the images in the collection is of the Palm Jumeirah man-made island in Dubai:

Here is a series of images showing the island during its construction: World of Change: Urbanization of Dubai.

===

Here’s a very different kind of example of satellite imaging applications: Satellite images show North Korea expanding rocket launch site, analysts say – Fox News