Google has put together a way to watch the world’s surface change in over a timespan of three decades.
The Google Earth Timelapse feature has combined over five million images from five different satellites, including NASA’s Landsat – the longest continuous global record of the Earth’s surface.
Google, which has been compiling the satellite images since 2009, released a version of the Timelapse feature back in 2013. The new version, updated on Nov. 29, adds years of additional data and imagery.
Sprawling growth is most visible in places like Las Vegas and Dubai, two cities renowned for their quick growth. A YouTube playlist has also been made displaying some of the most notable changes to the world’s surface.
In Canada, satellite shots captures the striking growth of Fort McMurray, Alberta – which was only declared a city in 1980, holding a population of 35,000.
The images capture Fort Mac’s growth up to 2016, right before the devastating fire in May, 2016. See below for other Canadian cities.
Fort McMurray
Feeding into conspiracy theories, many have also observed the growth of Area 51, the notoriously secret U.S. military installation located in southern Nevada. Images show lots of construction over the decades, turning the facility into a much bigger compound than when it was first pictured.
Aside from the captivating development of urban areas, the application also offers a glimpse of the effects of climate change. New satellite pictures of Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest confirmed that the ongoing deforestation has accelerated in the past year. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research released a study last week, noting deforestation has increased by 29 per cent, translating into almost 8,000 square hectares since August, 2015.
The pictures on Google Timelapse are made from 33 cloud-free annual mosaics, one for each year. It is expected the company will update the timelapse throughout the years, as it strives to enable “scientists, researchers and journalists to detect changes” on our globe’s ever-changing surface.
While Google highlights several locations on the Timelapse website, visitors can type any location into its search tab, and watch how it changed between 1984 and 2016.
Calgary
Toronto
Vancouver
