It’s hard to believe, but Google Earth just turned 20 years old! Since launching in 2005, it’s grown from a curious digital globe into a tool used by scientists, city planners, and regular folks to explore nearly every corner of our planet. Now, two decades later, Google is celebrating the birthday by bringing historical Street View imagery directly into Google Earth.
If you’ve ever wondered what your childhood neighborhood looked like ten years ago or how a favorite vacation spot has evolved, now you can go back in time without ever leaving your computer or phone. This long-awaited update makes it easier than ever to virtually time travel and see changes across cities, landscapes, and communities.
Google Earth has had quite a journey. It famously went viral right after launch, racking up 100 million downloads in its first week. But it wasn’t just a toy. After Hurricane Katrina hit later that year, Google worked with the NOAA to deliver updated imagery to first responders on the ground. That moment helped set the tone for how Google Earth would become more than just eye candy.
Over the years, researchers have used it to discover coral reefs, locate caves hiding fossils of ancient human ancestors, and even reunite a man with his long-lost family in India. In 2016, Saroo Brierley’s story was turned into the Oscar-nominated movie Lion, showing how Google Earth helped him retrace a journey he made as a child, eventually finding his birth mother decades later.
In 2012, Earth’s imagery expanded beyond satellites and planes. A collaboration with the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science used kites and balloons to take aerial photos over Oakland, California. It wasn’t exactly high-tech, but it worked.
That spirit of exploration continued in 2014 with Earth View, which turned satellite imagery into eye-popping wallpapers. And by 2017, Google Earth Timelapse stitched together 35 years of satellite images into a mesmerizing 4D view of our changing planet.
In more recent years, Google has leaned into professional tools. A 2023 update helped architects and solar designers evaluate sites from their desks. Last year, Gemini in Google Earth gave urban planners access to helpful data like EV charger locations and city-level analysis. And now in 2025, professionals can pull up datasets like land temperatures or urban tree canopy coverage straight from the Earth interface.
But beyond the technical bells and whistles, Google Earth has become part of our culture. A trend last year called #somewhereonGoogleMaps had people sharing old Street View snapshots of familiar places, often highlighting how much their worlds had changed. Now with historical Street View officially built into Google Earth, that nostalgia hit is just a click away.
So happy birthday, Google Earth. From its viral beginnings to becoming a serious tool for science and storytelling, it’s stuck around for a reason. And if the past 20 years are any indication, the next 20 could take us even further.
