Google Earth turns 20: the service now has the ability to view images from different years

Google Earth is celebrating its 20th anniversary with new features, including the ability to view Street View history. For the first time, the tool lets you not only explore the planet in 3D, but also go back in time to see how streetscapes have changed over the years.

Google Earth was launched in June 2005 after the acquisition of startup Keyhole. The program was downloaded more than 100 million times in its first week. It was later made available on the web, and also integrated satellite imagery, aerial photography, Street View, and 3D visualization. According to the company, users have performed more than 2 billion location searches on the platform in the past year alone.

To celebrate the anniversary, Google has added several new features:

• Historical Street View imagery — Users can browse archives of street photos, just like in Google Maps, allowing them to see how cities and natural landscapes have changed over the years.
• New professional datasets, such as tree cover in urban areas and ground surface temperature, can be useful for planning urban infrastructure, assessing the ecological state of areas, or preparing for climate change.
• Expanded use in urban planning — Google highlights that Earth is increasingly being used as an analytical tool for urban planning, including assessing the potential of rooftops for solar panels.
• Integration with Gemini — Google's artificial intelligence is already used to analyze data in = Earth, providing city-level predictions and recommendations.

In addition to Google Earth, other company services are also celebrating their 10th anniversary this year — Google Photos, YouTube Music, and Fi Wireless.