Without a doubt, Costa Rica has changed a lot in the last three decades. And, thanks to technology, it is possible to see those changes, particularly in the urban landscape of different parts of the country.
This is possible thanks to a new update of the Google Earth Timelapse, which includes compilations of satellite images between 1984 and 2018. That is, a period of 34 years.
All it takes is a simple quick check to see how the urban sprawl of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) changed radically during that time. However, transformations can also be seen in other locations such as Limón, Puntarenas or Liberia.
It is even possible to check the passage of years in natural aspects of the volcanoes or the lakes that make up the country.
This update adds two additional years of images to the time series visualization, which now covers 1984 to 2018, along with mobile support and visual updates to make the exploration more accessible and intuitive. Timelapse offers an integral image of our changing Earth, including amazing phenomena such as the emergence of the Palm Islands of Dubai, the development of the West Zone of San José and the Turrialba Volcano,”
said Google through an official announcement.
Recently, a team of scientists from the University of Ottawa published an article in Nature based on the Timelapse data set that revealed a 6,000% increase in landslides on an island in the Canadian Arctic since 1984. As of this week, UK users can see the Timelapse images in the BBC’s new series, Earth From Space, on the incredible discoveries and perspectives captured from above,”
explained Google.
In fact, in November 2016, CRHoy.com, published a report with the changes registered thanks to the data that was available between 1984 and 2016.