Google Earth celebrates 20 years by letting you step back in time
TL;DR
- Google Earth is celebrating its 20-year anniversary by adding two features.
- Users will now be able to access historical street view from Google Earth.
- The other feature will provide AI-driven insights about the planet.
YouTube isn’t the only one celebrating its 20-year anniversary; Google Earth has been around for just as long. To celebrate the two-decade milestone, Google Earth is getting a feature for viewing the past and another that will provide insights about the planet.
Back in 2014, Google rolled out a feature called historical street view in Maps for desktop. This feature gathers street views from past collections to show you how a place has changed over the years. While it has long been a staple for Maps, the company has announced that this feature is now also available on Google Earth. The video below shows an example of how the city of Houston has changed over the years.
In addition to historical street view, Google Earth will also be launching AI-driven insights in the coming weeks. Unlike historical street view, this feature is only for professional users in the US. If you’re a professional user, you’ll be able to use this feature to access new datasets about the planet. For example, you could use the tool to learn about tree canopy coverage for cities, showing which parts of the city have the most shade. Knowing which areas would benefit the most from a cooling solution could help with urban planning.
