Like I said, you're comparing apples and oranges.You are confused by measurement done from the ground VS distance in altitude. Which obviously will lead to a different distance, due to the angle and so on, which would indeed lead to a triangle shaped situation.
On the other hand, you tell you can see details in game x km away, which is a straight line distance shown by the game (as you have targeted the feature).
On the other hand you're showing pictures taken at y km altitude, point of view not straight down but angled, so even if y=x, stuff shown in the pictures is z km away, where z>x.