Satellite maps in chronological order

The First Satellite Images

It is known that even before human spaceflights, spacecraft were equipped with cameras. The first photographs of the Earth were taken even before spacecraft entered orbit. These images were accessible only to a small number of individuals and organizations.

Using Satellite Images Today in Online Services

Today, the situation has changed so significantly that anyone can access an online mapping service and use satellite imagery to calculate the area of a land plot or measure distances between locations on Earth.

Google’s Landsat Annual Timelapse

The Google-developed Landsat Annual Timelapse service stands out for its functionality. It works with satellite imagery, accumulates data over time, and its primary purpose is to document changes in the Earth’s landscape since 1984.

The service allows viewing the satellite images one by one, indicating a particular year of shooting or their sequence in the animated form, i.e. in this mode, pictures are downloaded one-by-one in chronological order (like slide show). Download speeds of satellite images can be controlled by selecting time for the change of images: 'fast', 'medium' or 'slow'. But the most comfortable speed is slow viewing (0.25x)

Maximum level of approximation to the planet's surface and image resolution of the photographs captured from the orbit are enough to determine the expansion of city boundaries, moving the sandbanks along the river or to follow the construction of the 'Palm' Islands in Dubai.

All these pictures of Earth were taken during the past 38 years. Thirty-eight years is a very short historical period, but look how our planet changes. You will be able to see how the glaciers are melting:

and seas are disappearing. (Aral Sea):

AralSea - the image was taken in 1984

Aral Sea - satellite image in 2012

Aral Sea - satellite image in 2022