Google Tool Offers Real-Time Data on Status of Earth's Surface

pcmag.com:

We all know Google Earth and Google Maps, the trusted tools that let us go down rabbit holes of information on nearly any location in the world.

But rather than just looking at a static satellite image, what if you could answer questions like, “how much of my family’s farm was covered in crops last year compared to this year?” Or “what percentage of land in my city is covered with buildings compared to another?” Google today announced(Opens in a new window) a new initiative called Dynamic World(Opens in a new window) that will allow you to do just that.

The dataset, available at the Dynamic World website(Opens in a new window) and the Google developer website(Opens in a new window), was created by Google in partnership with the World Resources Institute(Opens in a new window) to provide “an unprecedented level of detail about what's on the land and how it's being used—whether it’s forests in the Amazon, agriculture in Asia, urban development in Europe or seasonal water resources in North America.”

Sample imagery output from the dataset featured in today's announcement. Each color corresponds to a different type of land cover.

It’s near-real time, meaning a maximum of few days old at any given point, and it tracks nine types of land cover: water, flooded vegetation, built-up areas, trees, crops, bare ground, grass, shrub/scrub, and snow/ice.

Google calls Dynamic World the “latest advancement in mapmaking”—a new digital wonderland for your inner Lewis and Clark. The tool uses AI and Google Earth data to analyze each pixel in a satellite image, and determine how many different combinations of land cover types are present. Scientists, researchers, or anyone who accesses that data can then use it to create their own maps