The actions of the Suru people who protected the Amazon

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Timelapse in Google Earth shows rapid changes on our planet in the context of five thematic stories, such as the retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska.

Put time on Earth in the palm of your hand
Creating a planet-sized time-lapse video requires a significant amount of “pixel crunching” in Earth Engine , Google’s cloud-based geospatial analytics platform. To add the animated time-lapse images to Google Earth, the company collected more than 24 million satellite images from 1984 to 2020, totaling quadrillions of pixels. It took more than two million hours of processing on thousands of machines in Google Cloud to assemble 20 petabytes of satellite imagery into a single 4.4 terapixel video mosaic—the equivalent of 530,000 4K videos! And all of this computing was done in our 100% carbon-neutral data centers, part of Google’s commitment to helping build a carbon-free future.

Google Earth Timelapse is the largest video on our planet, our planet. And it took an unearthly collaboration to create it. This work was made possible by the U.S. and European governments’ commitments to open and accessible data. Not to mention their Herculean efforts to launch rockets, rovers, satellites, and astronauts into space for the sake of knowledge and research. Google Earth Timelapse simply wouldn’t be possible without NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat program , the world’s first (and longest-running) civilian Earth observation program, and the European Union’s Copernicus program with its Sentinel satellites .



Timelapse also reveals beautiful natural geological processes, such as kenya number data the sandy beaches of Cape Cod slowly shifting southward. This time-lapse is captured in the collection "Changes That Bewitch."

What can you do with Timelapse?
Try Timelapse and share it with others — whether you're marveling at the changing coastline, watching the growth of megacities, or tracking deforestation. Timelapse in Google Earth is a zoom-out to assess the health and well-being of our only home, and it's a tool that can educate and inspire action.

Visual evidence can show everyone the problems they face in ways that words can’t. Take, for example, the work of Lisa Goldberg , who plans to use time-lapse images to teach about climate change. Or the 2020 award-winning documentary Nature Now , which used satellite imagery to show humanity’s growing footprint on the planet.

Timelapse for the next decade
Working with partners, Google will update Google Earth with new timelapse imagery every year for the next decade. We hope this view of the planet will spark discussion, encourage research, and change perspectives on some of our most pressing global issues.