Historic satellite images on Google Earth 5.0
 

Google released Google Earth 5.0 today. The main new feature is the historical satellite images, so it's like a 4th dimension, allowing you to go back in time.

I'll let others point out changes in other parts of the world, but over in the Pearl Delta region in Southern China, they have a fairly low resolution of satellite images from 1979, and a slightly better one for 1990.

That's one area of the world that's changed the most in the last 30 years. You can check out the coastline of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong then and now. And even more drastic is the development in the area between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

In 1979 (that's when China first allowed foreign visitors, also when I first visited), that part was all farmland. Now, it's all the factories that make all the goods for the world.

Update your Google Earth to 5.0 and check it out.

thanks rkkwan, I am downloading it now. I love this stuff. Ten or twelve years ago this kind of software would have cost you $20,000 and run only on UNIX and without web access to data. All the imagery and maps would have to be on the local workstation or, maybe, a local net.

I first searched for "national reconnaissance office" to see some changes in Northern Virginia.

Then Las Vegas, 1950 to 1965 to 1977 to 2002. The changes to the strip are dramatic. The oldest shows The Fabulous Flamingo surrounded by desert. (the hi-res imagery of the strip doesn't change from 1977 to 2002 though much of the rest of the city does).

Dramatic changes in H.K. from 1990 to 2000.

The slide bar is a great way to implement that timeline.

Bob - I'll bet they would appreciate this on the Lounge. ((*))

Thanks Ray, cool stuff. Hope to meet you at the LA GTG!

Aloha!