San Francisco Population

Approximate Elapsed Time: 80 years (2.5 billion seconds)

The San Francisco Bay Area is transformed from a series of isolated towns into a sprawling metropolitan area. In this time-lapse sequence, time has been sped up nearly 30 million times, and we can clearly see the ever expanding influx of people and the loss of open spaces.

How This Clip Was Made:

This animation was created by combining an animation showing how the population of the San Francisco Bay Area has increased with an altered satellite image of the region. Using a computer graphics program, the satellite image was altered to show how the Bay Area looked 200 years ago. The population animation was then used to show how the area has changed. Population animation provided by: USGS, Menlo Park, CA. Storyboards: Audre Newman. Animator: Zack Fuller.

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