1. A wide area imaging system that uses a step/dwell/image capture sequence to capture images and produce from the captured images a wide area image, wherein image capture is by a sensor that has a predetermined image field and provides image capture at a predetermined frame capture rate, wherein image capture is by a processor controlled motorized step and dwell sequence of the sensor, where image capture is processor controlled during a dwell step, and wherein the step and dwell sequence of the sensor is synchronized with the image capture rate of the sensor.