After 20 years, being able to look at any corner of the planet in Google Earth doesn't seem that impressive, but it was a revolution in 2005. Google Earth has gone through a lot of changes in that time, and Google has some more lined up for the service's 20th anniversary. Soon, Google Earth will help you travel back in time with historic Street View integration, and pro users will get some new "AI-driven insights"—of course Google can't update a product without adding at least a little AI.

Google Earth began its life as a clunky desktop client, but that didn't stop it from being downloaded 100 million times in the first week. Today, Google Earth is available on the web, in mobile apps, and in the Google Earth Pro desktop app. However you access Earth, you'll find a blast from the past.

For the service's 20th anniversary, Google was inspired by a social media trend from last year in which people shared historical images of locations in Google Maps. Now, Google Earth is getting a "time travel" interface where you can see historical Street View images from almost any location.

God, this makes me feel old. I remember when it first came out (I most likely learned about it from Ars) ... I was living with my girlfriend who would later become my first wife, and I was glued to my tower while she was at her desk on her laptop.

We showed each other the places we'd lived over the years -- like, individual buildings -- and that out of the way, we started exploring and calling each other over for interesting finds.

I'm pretty certain we lost a solid two days. It's hard to believe, now, that the post-9/11 world was "simpler times." Back then, everyone in our age bracket longed for the stability and simplicity of pre-election 2000.