Google Earth

A few years ago, a couple of Google employees reached out to a Minnesota scientist with an unusual proposal: What if they could teach computers to spot beaver habitats from space? "They wanted to know if I thought it was possible to find beaver wetlands from aerial imagery myself, and then if that could be scaled up with machine learning," Emily Fairfax, a University of Minnesota beaver researcher and assistant professor of geography, told As It Happens guest host Megan Williams.Fairfax knew that beavers' sprawling dams…

If you cross your fingers, bow your head, and pray to the great Google gods above, you could be one of the first few to access Google Maps’ long-awaited “immersive view.” The 3D cities flyover feature has been quietly rolling out to users over the past week, though only some are reporting that they have access to it so far.The feature was first announced at Google I/O in 2022, with the company promising users they would be able to see detailed graphics of some of the world’s most famous cities in Google Maps in the near…

Google said that it will merge teams working on the mapping service Waze and products like Google Maps, effective December 9, in a bid to consolidate processes. The Alphabet Inc.-owned company will integrate Waze, which it acquired in 2013 for $1 billion, into Google Geo, its portfolio of real-world mapping products that include Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View, a Google spokesperson said. Waze CEO Neha Parikh will exit the company following a transition period, Google said, adding that Waze will continue to be…

The US space agency has collaborated with Google to help local governments improve their monitoring and prediction of air quality.NASA and Google will develop advanced machine learning-based algorithms that link space data with Google Earth Engine data streams to generate high-resolution air quality maps in near real-time."We're thrilled about our partnership with NASA to make daily air quality more actionable at a local level," said Rebecca Moore, director at Google Earth, Earth Engine and Outreach at Google.The results…

Satellite imagery showing off the devestation and transition to shrubland in El Dorado County, California after the Caldor Fire burned 221,775 acres of land in 2021.Gif: GoogleI can remember when Google Earth was merely a tool for me and friends to zoom in on our old streets and homes. I recallsquinting at the screen trying to pick out if the satellites managed to pick out my stubby little head poking out the corner of the cul-de-sac where I lived.Now with a new release from the tech giant showing off changes in land…