Google Earth, virtual globe, Google Inc., Mountain View, California, USA

[Administrator]

Developer - Google Inc.

earth.google.com

earthengine.google.com

youtube.com/@googleearth

x.com/googleearth

Google Earth on Wikipedia

 

[Administrator]

Celebrating 20 years of Google Earth

Jun 24, 2025

Back in 2005, we launched Google Earth with a simple yet powerful idea: what if anyone, anywhere, could zoom out to see the big picture — or zoom in to explore the tiniest details of our planet?

Twenty years later, millions of people have used Google Earth to ask questions, spark curiosity, tell stories, and take meaningful action.

Join us in celebrating 20 years of seeing the world differently — and moving it forward — together, as one global community.

 

[Administrator]

The Untold Story of Google Earth

Jul 7, 2025

We set out to map the world — and accidentally built humanity's time machine. Now, AI is turning it into our planetary crystal ball. →

Google Earth saved 4,000 lives during Hurricane Katrina, reunited lost families, and discovered forests science didn't even know existed. But the real story starts with an $800/year spy tool watching a war unfold in 2003. Over 20 years, this mapping software evolved into something unprecedented: a living, breathing digital twin of Earth that lets anyone witness decades of change. Now with AI, it's becoming a planetary prediction engine. This is that untold journey from digital mirror to crystal ball.

Special thanks to:

• Rebecca Moore, Former Director, Google Earth
• Matt Hancher, Director of Engineering, Google Earth
• The Google Geo team

VIDEO CHAPTERS
00:00 Google Earth Origin Story
01:23 Sci-fi Spy Tech to Public Gift06:22 Katrina – First Real‑World Test
09:47 Building a 3D Mirror World
15:24 Crowdsourcing Truth: Earth as Evidence
21:35 Living Dashboard for the Planet
27:58 The Mirror Becomes a Crystal Ball

"The Untold Story of Google Earth"
How a 3D mirror of our world became an accidental time machine—and what happens when it starts to predict our future.

by Bilawal Sidhu
July 7, 2025