Patterns of Growth and Decay : Earth via Timelapse
Our Footprint in Motion...
A view from above, spanning the spectrum of space and time... Timelapse is an interactive video that lets you explore the world as a mosaic of growth and decay. In these examples, we can visualize the effects of urban sprawl, infrastructure, development, erosion, deforestation and glacial decline. It's a fascinating and mesmerizing animation that captures the dynamic surface of our planet.
Our footprint is one of growth and decay. Observing the scope of these recordings really brings to light the consequences (both good and bad) humanity projects onto our natural environment.
The Earth is a living, breathing canvas that we humans have held our paintbrush over for tens of thousands of years. Few (if any) living creatures have ever wielded that kind of strength over such a vast and storied composition. For that reason, human impact is so tragically difficult to visualize. Until this past generation, we have been unable to fully see the entirety of our footprint from above. Satellite imagery has drastically changed this. Images like these timelapses provide us with powerful windows into the reality of our work.
Timelapse is a project by Google Earth and Carnegie Mellon University CREATE Lab's Time Machine Library. Using the data mined from 5 separate satellites orbiting the Earth, this mapping project compiled 3.95 terapixel global images into over 25,000,000 overlapping multi-resolution video tiles.
This massive library of visual information spans just 32 years of human history, from 1984 to 2016. Though - with this tiny glimpse of human history from above - we can see how heavy handed we are.
Geo-Oculi
New perspectives like those revealed through orbiting satellites are very exciting to see. They represent totally new windows into the world around us. Throughout history, there have been several jolts of technology that have opened up perspectives just like this one. Over the next few weeks I'll be writing about just a few of these various jolts and their impact on the built fabric around us.
Here's one of my favorite quotes by French artist Fernand Léger on the impact that the railroad car window had on 19th century Parisian art and culture...
“If pictorial expression has changed, it is because modern life has necessitated it. . . . The view through the door of the railroad car or the automobile windshield, in combination with speed, has altered the habitual look of things. A modern man registers a hundred times more sensory impressions than an eighteenth-century artist. . . . The compression of the modern picture, its variety, its breaking up of forms, are the result of all this.” – Fernand Léger, 1914
That is the last 100 years... imagine the next 100 years. I bet it compounds even faster.
Whoa, that's super cool & ridiculously scary that it's only over such a short period of time. Begs the question of what happens when we run out of space.
Funny you should mention space ;)... https://steemit.com/science/@voronoi/orbital-urbanism-space-colonies-of-the-1970s
I should have known you'd have something to say about the 'space' issue. Super interesting read. Reminded me of the movie Interstellar. Isn't that what she ended up creating?
I guess the key here is to study what we've been doing so we can anticipate the future and hopefully prepare for it.
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Hi there, just a friendly note here that when you're commenting on posts please don't ask for people to follow you. Some users might actually downvote you for stuff like that. (I won't because I see you're new here and getting the hang of the rules!) Anyway, welcome!
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Love this, I've always wanted to see the growth of certain cities over a period of 100 years in time lapse. Hope you had a great trip!
If only they had a true time machine version... even if it was just a simulation, that would be fascinating!
Its almost like bacterial growth of fungus in a petri dish. Not that I think of humanity in such a way. But the similarity is there.
That is a cool use of Google earth. I am going to have to play around with that!
It really does look like a growth in a petri dish! "Humanity" is a matter of perspective I guess :)
as in the movie MAtrix ...humans are like a virus a cancer on the face of the earth ...LOL ...
Lol, I'm not trying to go full-mr.-anderson on this post, but the machine's do have a point... ;)
jejejejeeje Mr Anderson one bad butt ...
Woah this is really cool, i always loved seeing stuff like this, especially the videos that show what will happen to the earth in 1000 years 1million years and so on its really fascinating to watch.
Glad you enjoyed it! Absolutely, fascinating to watch and imagine how this tiny 32 year time-frame might scale to 1,000+ years...
I agree that the world is our canvas and we can do truly extraordinary stuff.
Each big milestone we pass, reach stroke we take with our brush, a legacy is left behind
Yes! And that legacy is becoming more and more critical. There's a cheesy proverb that I usually don't recite, but it might be appropriate here...
"We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
That's deep! Makes you wonder in what condition will you give it back to them?
Wow, this is crazy. It's kind of amazing/shocking to see us tearing shit up so much in such a short amount of time. I'm glad they've put this project together so we can get a glimpse into what the world is developing into. Thanks for sharing this!
So wild. Thanks for your comment @deadspace... here's hoping that tools like these help us learn from such reckless growth and development!
Its great to see the world from that perception
Helps put things in perspective doesn't it! Thanks @makrotheblack
These timelapses are so interesting to watch.
I'm excited about technologies that let observe changing of the planet.
It's very well sad about our footprints that can cause growth or decay.
Liked that post a lot! Thanks for sharing!)
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind comment @yaan