X

Google Timelapse Shows Earth Getting Older


May 9, 2013 | Andy Cush

Today, Google released the latest in a slew of nifty maps-related toys: a set of HTML5-powered timelapses that show how our planet’s landscape has changed since 1984. Google’s people apparently sifted through 2 million satellite images to find the clearest photos possible, then assembled them chronologically into these looping animations.

Watch Las Vegas spreading like a virus across the desert (that’s the image above), disheartening deforestation in the Amazon, Dubai creating brand-new islands off its coast, and several other literally Earth-altering events, at Google.