Google Earth is marking its 20th anniversary with a couple of big updates that change how people explore the planet.
Starting June 24, users will be able to access historical Street View imagery directly in Google Earth, letting anyone virtually time-travel through past views of cities and neighbourhoods. This feature became popular last year on social media when people began sharing old photos of familiar places using the hashtag #somewhereonGoogleMaps.
Alongside that, Google is also rolling out new AI-powered tools for professionals in the U.S. These tools provide environmental data like tree canopy coverage and land surface temperature in cities. The idea is to help with urban planning — for example, figuring out which areas need more shade or which neighbourhoods are hit hardest by heat.
The updates are the latest in a long history of features for Google Earth, which has been downloaded billions of times and used everywhere. These changes are part of Google’s push to make Earth more useful not just for exploration, but for tackling real-world problems.
According to Google in an email to iPhone in Canada, in the past year alone, people searched for places in Google Earth over 2 billion times.
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