Google just released a pretty amazing tool: Google Earth Engine Timelapse. This interactive tool (which is embedded below and can be reached via the link) lets you view global aerial photography from the past 32 years in an interactive timelapse video. Best of it, you can zoom into any region of the world and see what changes have occurred over those years (e.g. sprawl in Las Vegas, glaciers receding). Also note how the quality of the imagery changes and especially over the past few years gained a much higher resolution. From Google’s description:
“Timelapse is a global, zoomable video that lets you see how the Earth has changed over the past 32 years. It is made from 33 cloud-free annual mosaics, one for each year from 1984 to 2016.”
This particular view zooms in on Amherst, MA and shows quite nicely (as good as one can make this out in the images) the building boom at UMass Amherst and the retail developments in Amherst/Hadley. Click on the play button get the video started.
Source: Timelapse – Google Earth Engine