Google creates stunning timelapses using millions of public photos

TORONTO – Researchers at the University of Washington have teamed up with Google to create more than 10,000 timelapse videos using millions of publicly available photographs.

The team analyzed over 86 million photos from sites like Flickr and Picasa and sorted them into landmarks and popular viewpoints. Then researchers sorted each of the images by date and re-touched the images to show the same viewpoint.

The result is an interesting look at how the world’s landscape changes over time – whether it be environmental changes to natural resources, or the restoration of historical sites.

“Our resulting time-lapses show diverse changes in the world’s most popular sites, like glaciers shrinking, skyscrapers being constructed, and waterfalls changing course,” reads the description of the project.

According to a report by The Verge, the most difficult part of the project was finding a single focal point in each photo to create the timelapse. Researchers found people’s tendency to take photos of popular landmarks from the same angle and vantage points helped.

The project will be featured at the annual Siggraph conference – which showcases innovations in computer graphics and interactive techniques – in Los Angeles from August 9 to 13.