Google has updated Google Earth Timelapse. The satellite image slideshow has been extended by two years and Google has optimized the service for tablets and smartphones.
Users can now use Earth Timelapse with a mobile-adapted interface. Among other things, there is an option for a Maps view that does not show the satellite images but Google Maps view. According to Google, Earth Timelaps slideshows didn’t play automatically on mobile browsers for a while due to the blocking of video autoplay on sites. Now that that block has been reversed in at least Chrome and Firefox, and only audio is turned off, Google has chosen to release the mobile display of Earth Timelaps.
The number of years has also been expanded so that images can now be seen from 1984 to 2018. The previous update was from 1984 to 2016. Google started Earth Timelapse in 2013 and the service is now made up of 15 million satellite images from the American Geological Survey/NASA Landsat and the European Sentinel programs. The visual representation is based on Carnegie Mellon’s Time Machine project. The service shows changes in the Earth over the past 35 years. Various organizations can use those images.