In the early 2000s, Brazil faced record deforestation, resulting in biodiversity loss and rising temperatures. To help the country continue protecting its forests, we partnered with the government to create the first highly detailed satellite imagery map of the country’s landscape, showing a snapshot from this period. This data gives local authorities a powerful new way to accurately measure their progress in fighting deforestation, and it’s now available for everyone to use in Google Earth and Earth Engine.

To create the map, we processed thousands of historical satellite images, removed clouds and corrected colors. This imagery is up to six times more precise than previously available imagery, allowing us to see detailed patches of forests for the first time. Now, authorities can get an accurate picture of exactly where deforestation occurred so they can track progress and take action in a way that wasn’t possible before.

Read more on Google Earth’s Medium post.

Image on the left depicts previously available imagery; image on the right shows new, detailed map created by Google.