Friday, May 17, 2013

Viewing Almost 30 Years of Change!

Landuse change is usually important, sometimes interesting, and often just plain cool!  There have been a number of Internet articles lately touting Google's Earth Engine.  It highlights large scale examples of landuse change using timelapse Landsat imagery.  One of the publicied examples (seen below) shows how irrigation can change a desert landscape into an agricultural landscape.
The resolution of Landsat imagery isn't great, but you can view imagery for anywhere in the world from 1984 to 2012.  To see urban sprawl in Iowa, a great example is the west side of the Des Moines metro area.  Below you can see the westward expansion from 1984 to 2012.
Check it out!


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