Explore Our Changing Planet On the Go With Google Earth Timelapse - Geek

The planet’s surface is changing right before our eyes, and there’s no better way to watch its progress (or regression) than via Google Earth Timelapse.

Last updated three years ago, the global-zoomable time-lapse video now features two additional years of imagery (spanning from 1984 to 2018), as well as mobile support and visual upgrades.

Through a partnership with NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Google initially released its interactive experience in 2013—enabling armchair explorers to watch the sprouting of Dubai’s artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, and the urban expansion of Las Vegas.

After sifting through roughly 10 quadrillion pixels from more than 15 million satellite photos, the team built 35 global cloud-free images of the entire planet—one for each year.

Those images were then encoded into more than 25 million overlapping multi-resolution video titles, creating zoomable and pannable timelapses.

“Scientists, documentarians, and journalists have used this dataset to help us better understand the complex dynamics at work on our planet,” Google Earth Outreach geo data engineer Chris Herwig wrote in a blog post.

From coverage of the floods in Houston, Texas, to population monitoring, news outlets have brought their reporting to life with Timelapse imagery. Researchers at the University of Ottawa even published a journal article based on the Timelapse dataset.

UK residents, meanwhile, can see Timelapse content features in the new BBC series Earth From Space, “about the incredible discoveries and perspectives captured from above,” Herwig said.

This week’s update also adds mobile and tablet support, making it easy to explore, research, or just get lost in the beauty from wherever you are—the dentist’s waiting room, the daily commute, or the comfort of your sofa.

“Up until recently, mobile browsers disabled the ability to autoplay videos, which is crucial for Timelapse (since it’s made up of tens of millions of multi-resolution, overlapping videos),” according to Herwig.

But since Chrome and Firefox reinstated support for the feature (with sound muted), Google Earth could finally expand its service to on-the-go adventurers.

Using Material Design, the team also introduced cleaner lines and clearer focal areas for navigating the immense dataset.

“We’re committed to creating products like Timelapse with the planet in mind, and hope that making this data easily accessible will ground debates, encourage discovery, and inform the global community’s thinking about how we live on our planet,” Herwig wrote.

To view the new Timelapse, visit the Earth Engine website or take a tour through YouTube.

More on Geek.com:

Let's block ads! (Why?)