Bored Panda had a friendly chat with Josie, the founder of the brilliant ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies’ group on Facebook. We were curious to find out how the community has changed as it continues to grow, and whether there have been any new challenges that came with this.

For one, the team running the group had to expand. "The only changes we have had to make is to take on some more moderators as the group is growing," Josie told Bored Panda.

However, she mentioned that the people in the community "are still the same." She joked that they still "generally like to argue over everything."

"All in all, the growth of the group is still on the up," Josie said, adding that people enjoy engaging with each other within the group.

Meanwhile, we asked the creator about the most fun aspects of using Google Earth, as well as the features that she and the other moderators wish the program would include in the future. She shed some light on this for us.

According to Josie, the most fun part about using Google Earth remains "the same exploring" of the planet we all live on, as well as "finding new things" that we didn't know were there at all.

Meanwhile, she shared a couple of ideas for how the Google Earth program could potentially be improved to make it even more user-friendly. One suggestion is to create a tool "to go back in time," while another idea is to "bring back an easy way to mark your location."

You’ve probably used Google Earth, which was originally created in 2001, over the past couple of decades for fun, navigation, studies, or work at some point in your life. In short, it is a web and computer program that takes satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS (Geographic Information System) data and superimposes all of this on a 3D globe.

This then allows you to view locations from various angles. And if you’re anything like us, you’ve definitely searched for your home on the app.

You can also use Google Earth to explore the planet and various cities, locations, and landscapes using coordinates. The program covers most of the globe (97% back in 2019). However, some governments view it as a threat to national security, and the program is banned in some nations. Meanwhile, certain sensitive locations (for instance, military facilities) are censored for obvious reasons.

In 2019, the program had captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery and 36 million square miles of Google Earth imagery, covering most of the planet. Meanwhile, as of 2020, around a billion people use Google Maps, launched in 2005, every month.

The ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies’ group has been growing by leaps and bounds over the years! It has become increasingly popular since being founded in March 2020.

Currently, the group has 2.2 million members, many of whom are very active and willing to engage with the community as they share their most interesting Google Earth screenshots.

The last time that we covered this community, it had an impressive 1.1 million members. The group has doubled its member count since then, which just goes to show how much the internet enjoys solving small mysteries and looking at unexpected content.

It also helps that much of the world has access to Google Earth, so if you’re reading this, you clearly have access to the internet and can do a bit of exploring, too.

You can also easily verify other people’s finds by inputting their coordinates, so there’s the added dimension of trust and transparency. According to the team that administrates the group and moderates the content, the community is a place for “anyone who loves” looking at things on Google Earth and has found “strange structures, anomalies, or something that can’t be explained.”

During a previous interview, Bored Panda reached out to the founder of the awesome ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies' Facebook group, Josie. She told us that she had been a big fan of Google Earth for a long time. "I have been looking on Google Earth for about 12 years," she told us at the time.

"It is a hobby of mine and during lockdown I had more time on my hands," she said. The founder opened up to us that she took using Google Earth, her pastime, and turned it into a place online where she could store her most interesting finds. The group took off! However, Josie told us that she “never imagined it would turn into what it has.”

The founder had the highest praise for both the great community and the active team of admins and mods who help her out.

“We are a really friendly group and have an amazing admin team that works 24 hours around the clock to keep everything running smoothly. I would like to say 'thank you' to them all,” she said.

From Josie’s perspective, people enjoy Google Earth-related content, especially with a strange twist, because they are curious about the world they live in. Back when Josie first created the group, there weren’t many similar communities, which left an unfilled niche. "There weren't many Google Earth groups when I created my one," she told Bored Panda earlier.

According to the creator of the group, the best way to get started with using Google Earth is… get started! Use the program. Get used to it. Explore. Experiment. And just have fun. “I would just start looking at somewhere you have always wanted to visit, and maybe anywhere else that has piqued your curiosity and you have always wanted to see up close. Photo Sphere, a tool of Google Earth, is a great way to see photos people have taken and shared with the app.”

Which of these anomalies intrigued you the most? Which pics did you think were the most aesthetic? Have you ever found anything bizarre on Google Earth or Google Maps? If so, what was it?

We’d love to hear from you! Grab a hot beverage, get cozy, and share your thoughts in the comments.