Google Earth is getting an update that lets you watch global changes from the past 37 years in time-lapse — at any location in the world. Whether it's Madagascar or Munich — the Google Earth time-lapse shows the changes of the past decades. (Image: Google/Screenshot: Golem.de)

The Timelapse feature has been available in Google Earth Engine since late 2016, and now the data is also available in three-dimensional form in Google Earth. In addition, the company has made 800 videos available for download and on YouTube for the public. They're meant to make the consequences of the climate crisis and geological as well as human-made changes to the Earth visible.

The video consists of around 24 million satellite images taken between 1984 and 2020. This material comes from NASA's Landsat missions and the EU's Copernicus programme. The data comprises 20 petabytes of images, forming a 4.4 terapixel mosaic. The maximum resolution is 30 metres — which isn't enough for detailed views or spotting your own house, but that's not what the project is designed for anyway.

A journey back in time is well worth it — to Las Vegas, for example, where the city's growth over the past decades has only been constrained by the surrounding mountains, or to the vanished Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. In principle, the time-lapse feature can be activated at any location on Earth.

As thematic focuses, Google presents guided tours showing changes in forests, urban growth, and global warming, among other things. The aim is to sharpen awareness of the changes happening to our planet. Google explicitly promotes Earth Timelapse as a tool for educational institutions and for raising awareness about the ongoing climate crisis.

Visit developers.google.com to see a selection of locations and how they've changed over time!