According to The Hindu, over the past two decades, the satellite historical imagery of India has vanished from Google Earth, causing concern among scholars and researchers who heavily rely on the service to monitor changes in topography, forest cover, urbanization, and history.
While satellite imagery from 2020 is still accessible for locations in India, a noticeable disparity exists. The historical imagery of Amritsar has been completely removed, whereas Lahore in Pakistan, located just 50 km away, still has historical imagery available spanning several decades.
Upon The Hindu reaching out to Google, a spokesperson stated, “We are currently reprocessing some of our historical imagery in the Historic Image database of Google Earth Pro 7, and we plan to reintroduce the imagery later this year.” However, questions regarding whether this data disappearance is connected to policy norms or directives from the government of India remain unanswered.
“It seems to be limited to India alone—the historical imagery is still present for Pakistan. I had intended to conduct my research this summer, and comparing year-to-year imagery allows me to observe details that would be impossible to see by physically visiting a location at a specific point in time. Sometimes, the imagery from previous years, especially pre-2020, is significantly better than what is currently available,” expressed Robert Simpkins, an anthropology professor at Porterville College, who has extensively studied Hyderabad’s history.
Historical satellite imagery has become a valuable resource for tracking changes in the landscape. The disappearance of lakes, encroachments on water bodies, and even civic projects like the Secretariat in Hyderabad or alterations in New Delhi due to the new Parliament building can be clearly observed in the historical data.
