The Google It unveils an all-new feature that allows you to discover the evolution over time of a geographic area called “Timelapse” in its Google Earth program.

With the “Timelapse” tool, Google Earth introducesA timeline of our planetIt is possible to see the evolution of specific areas of the planet on a time scale from 1985 to 2020. With “The most important update to Google Earth since 2017,” we can see changes due to deforestation, urbanization or global warming.

“Timelapse in Google Earth provides us with photographic evidence that our planet is undergoing radical and dynamic transformations, due to climate change and human behavior.” – Rebecca Moore, Director, Google Earth

Changes can be seen in Quebec cities like Montreal, Quebec and Sherbrooke, from 1985 to 2020.

Google Earth wants to allow users to take ownership of this new tool and why not discover new things.

Satellite imagery made possible new discoveries and even some scientific breakthroughs. Google Earth Director Rebecca Moore explains that we believe netizens will discover new things unseen yet thanks to Timelapse.

This technological choice is the result of cooperation with experts from Create a laboratory From Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Great project

Rebecca Moore explains that updates for this new feature will be annual in order to take into account the various changes on the planet. So we want to maintain our commitment to empowering everyone to participate in the fight against climate change.

“More than 20 million satellite images from 37 years were put together for a 4D interactive experience. Now anyone can watch time pass by and witness nearly four decades of global change” – Rebecca Moore, Director of Google Earth

In total, it took more than 2 million hours of processing on thousands of devices in Google Cloud to ingest 20 petabytes of satellite images and convert them into a 4.4 terapixel video mosaic (that’s 4 followed by 12 zeroes, which equates to 530,000 videos. At 4K resolution), says Rebecca Moore.

To find out for yourself, click here.