On April 15th, Google, the technology company, announced a new feature that shows important changes on Earth along close to four decades. It is Google Earth’s Timelapse feature. Through it, one can see changes in places as distant as the Amazon rainforest, in Rondônia, Brazil or in Greenland’s glacier.

Timelapse is a cinematographic tool that displays photographs from different times in a sequence, which gives the impression of movement over time. For Google’s tool, 24 million satellite photos recorded between 1984 and 2020 were used to compose the videos in 2D, 3D, or 4D.

For this project, Google worked with NASA (the US space agency), the United States Geological Survey’s Landsat (the world’s oldest Earth observation program), the European Union’s Copernicus program and its Sentinel satellites, and with CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, in the United States, which helped develop the technology.

The Google platform features predefined time lapses with deforestation, reforestation, changes in the shape of rivers, volcanoes, lakes, glaciers, and sand dunes; airports under construction, and agricultural crops.

On the Google Earth page, the videos are categorized according to topics that include urban expansion, warming planet, fragile beauty, and energy sources. Each of these is accompanied by texts with more information about what prompted the changes. You can also search by specific region to see the changes that have taken place in that location over time.

According to Rebecca Moore, Google Earth’s director, the goal is to provide a clearer picture of our changing planet, bringing together problems, solutions, and the beauty of nature. “We hope that this perspective of the planet will ground debates, encourage discovery and shift perspectives about some of our most pressing global issues,” she states in the text released for the tool’s launch.

1) What is the correct information about Google’s new tool?

a) 240 thousand photos were used for time lapses.

b) The photos used generated 2D, 3D or 4D videos.

c) The goal is to increase people’s awareness of the changes on Earth.

d) Only pre-established time lapses are available.

2) What changes have already taken place where you live?

Ixi! Você bateu no paywall!

Ainda não é assinante? Assine agora e tenha acesso ilimitado ao conteúdo do Joca.

Assinante? Faça Login

Voltar para a home

Ou faça sua assinatura e tenha acesso a todo o conteúdo do Joca

Assine