Google Earth shows the damage caused by climate change
Google Earth is getting a new 3D time-lapse feature that allows you to observe how the Earth changed from 1984 to 2020, allowing you to see how the devastating impacts of climate change are shaping the planet's geography.
This feature is best for seeing the landscapes of our world, and it's not about zooming in, it's about taking a look from the outside and seeing how the planet is changing, said (Rebecca Moore).
The 3D Time Lapse feature should be available via Google Earth beginning Thursday.
To access the feature, launch Google Earth, and then click or tap the Voyager tab.
You can search for an interesting place or check out one of the five guided tours from Google on forest change, urban growth, rising temperatures, mining, renewable energy sources, and the fragile beauty of the land.
To create time-lapse 3D images for Google Earth, the company says: It used more than 24 million satellite images captured from 1984 to 2020 to create a 4.4 terapixel video, with a single term pixel size of one million megapixels.
The company worked with NASA, USGS, the European Commission, and the European Space Agency (ESA) to collect the data used as time elapsed.
"3D time-lapse and Google Earth are at the link between science, technology, public-private partnerships, and the next generation on climate change and climate action," Moore said.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time that Google uses time-lapse technology, as it released in May 2013 the time-lapse feature that displays two-dimensional images of the Earth from 1984 to 2012, and carried out a major update to that feature in November 2016.
However, the feature announced Thursday, provides a 3D chronological display of the Earth's geological changes, allowing a look at the changes in Earth in more detail.
Google has also released 800 time-lapse videos for various regions around the planet as free downloads.
The company aims to be used by educators, nonprofits, policymakers, and others to demonstrate how Earth's geography has changed over time.