If you’ve ever been captivated by ants hard at work maintaining their colonies, you may want to check out Google Earth Engine’s Timelapse, an interactive tool that generates views of Earth over long periods. Originally launched in 2013, Timelapse rolled out its largest update ever this week; the application now includes imagery captured from the past four years, and sharper resolution for existing data acquired from 1984 to 2016. This means that users can select any region of the planet, and watch it change over 32 years from the perspective of our Earth-observation satellites. Centers of urban development show a particularly obvious and dramatic shift, sprouting out new communities and industrial centers that take root in surrounding spaces.

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