The Amazing Changing World Through the Eyes of Google Earth


Google recently made available Google TimeLapse: A video created from 32 years (1984 to 2016) worth of satellite imagery. Over 55 million satellite images are shown. Take a look yourself, the world is quickly changing. Using this amazing new engine I was able to make the video shown above. Here’s how I did it:

    1. I used Google Earth Engine to access TimeLapse where I could scout out locations that have quickly changed in the past 30 years. Google lists several locations they have found themselves. I did a search of recent dams built, lakes drying up, and expanding cities. Here’s the timelapse locations I came up with in order of the video:
      • Cancún, Mexico
      • Iquitos, Peru
      • Las Vegas, Nevada
      • Northern Quebec and Labrador
      • Chatham, Massachusetts
      • Rainforest in Brazil
      • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
      • Koshi River, Nepal
      • Warnes, Bolivia
      • Merowe Dam, Sudan
      • Doha, Qatar
      • Amwaj Islands, Bahrain
      • Lake Poopó, Bolivia
      • Shanghai, China
      • Dalian, China
      • Aral Sea
    2. I was able to capture several second clips of each location using a screen capture program. I used the free program Active Presenter.
    3. I imported these clips into Adobe Premiere Pro.
    4. I added text titles, and then a panning effect to each clip. Here’s a quick tutorial on Youtube on how to add pan to your video.
    5. The music titled ‘Piano Moment’ was added from BenSound.com 
    6. I exported the video in HD (unfortunately the quality of the satellite images from Google Earth Engine isn’t great)…. and that’s it!

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