Google Provides Real-Time Land Cover Data With ‘Dynamic World’

Google has launched a new service called “Dynamic World” that gives real-time land cover data.

Climate change and global warming are leaving devastating impacts on the environment. Now, Google has launched Dynamic World to raise awareness about environmental changes occurring on our planet.

Google has partnered with World Resources Institute (WRI) to create Dynamic World. Moreover, its goal is to offer “global, near real-time land cover data at a ten-meter resolution.”

Also, Dynamic World allows people to see how environmental disturbances like floods and fires are affecting the planet. The service uses Earth Engine and AI Platform.

“The global land squeeze pressures us to find smarter, efficient, and more sustainable ways to use land,” Craig Hanson, Vice President of Food, Forests, Water and the Ocean at WRI noted. “If the world is to produce what is needed from land, protect the nature that remains and restore some of what has been lost, we need trusted, near real-time monitoring of every hectare of the planet.”

Google’s Dynamic World gives near real-time land cover dataset

Also, the Dynamic World paves the way for scientists and environmental researchers to know how much of a land is covered by water, forests, agricultural crops, trees, urban development, and more. This data will help them to predict how our planet will change in the future.

Google uses AI and cloud computing to determine whether a pixel (~1,100 square feet of land) of satellite imagery is covered with different land and water types.

The Dynamic World is fed by Copernicus Sentinel-2 and produces 5,000 images a day. The current global land cover maps usually update their data on a monthly basis. But Dynamic World aims to provide near real-time data. Moreover, Dynamic World would be an open and free dataset.

Dynamic World can make Google a trusted resource for researchers who want to explore the effects of environmental disturbances. Google Earth is another service by the company that offers similar features, like the Timelapse to show 37 years of change.

Technology companies have also made some commitments to combat global warming. Their commitments often revolve around reducing greenhouse gas emissions and using renewable energy sources.