Google’s latest feature, Timelapse, is an eye-opening, technical achievement that provides visual evidence of how the Earth has changed due to climate change and human behavior. The tool takes static images of the platform and turns them into a dynamic 4D experience, allowing users to click through timelaps that highlight melting ice caps, retreated glaciers, massive urban growth and the impact of wildfires on agriculture.
To explore Timelapse in Google Earth, users can enter any location in the search bar to see it moving, whether it’s a landmark or a neighborhood in which they grew up. Google said it removed elements such as clouds and shadows from images and calculated a single pixel for each location on Earth for each year since 1984; ultimatel merging them into a timelapse video.
For example, we may see the Cape Cod coast slowly shifting south, agricultural growth in the middle of a desert in Al Jowf, Saudi Arabia, and the development of Songdo Beach, an artificial beach in Busan, South Korea.
“Visual evidence can be reduced to the core of the debate in a way that words can’t communicate complex issues to everyone,” said Rebecca Moore, director of Google Earth. in a blog post on Thursday.
Google has also created various guided tours through Voyager, its storytelling platform, around larger changes seen in images.
The company said it hopes governments, researchers, journalists, teachers and lawyers will analyze images, identity trends and share their findings.
“We invite anyone to take Timelapse into their own hands and share it with others – whether you’re wondering about the change of coastline, the growth of big cities or the pursuit of deforestation,” Moore said. “Timelapse in Google Earth is about shrinking to assess the health and well-being of our home alone and is a tool that can educate and inspire action.”