Google Timelapse has created a giant GIF of the entire planet using one cloud-free satellite photo from every year since 1984.
Earlier this week, Google posted a 12-second video of Naypyidaw during that 32-year period. Viewers can see Myanmar’s capital spring up from a seemingly desolate natural landscape.
(Of course, the controversial and seemingly unnecessary capital was build amid reports that the land was taken by force from villagers who had already lived there and who were subsequently barred from returning to their land. Keep this in mind when you watch the video.)
Excited by the technology, we made our own video of Yangon’s development from space, which you can see above.
Yangon can be seen spilling across the rivers that previously surrounded it. Major urbanization is visible in Hlaingthaya Township, which was Myanmar’s most populous township in the 2014 census, and in Thanlyin, the site of Star City.
Use the YCDC map below as a point of reference to see how the townships have changed over the years.
