Founded just over three years ago in late March, 2020, the Facebook group has grown by leaps and bounds. At the time of writing, the ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies’ online community had nearly 1.1 million members on the social media platform.

The band of administrators and moderators curating the entire project asks all members to “give more to this group than you take.” That means avoiding spam and self-promotion.

The online group also has no tolerance for “bullying of any kind” and there’s no place for degrading comments. What’s more, all members—new or old—ought to be polite to the admins and mods, as well as treat other members with the respect that they deserve. In any community of this size, it becomes especially important to have clear rules and a team that enforces them fairly and quickly.

Josie, the founder of the ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies' Facebook group, has been a huge fan of the Google Earth project for a very long while now.

"I have been looking on Google Earth for about 12 years," she shared with Bored Panda. "It is a hobby of mine and during lockdown I had more time on my hands," she shared that she made a group so that she had "somewhere to store my interesting finds."

Three years later, the group continues to be a resounding success. However, Josie noted that she "never imagined it would turn into what it has." 

Josie highlighted the fact that the group has a great community and a very active team of administrators and moderators. "We are a really friendly group and have an amazing admin team that works 24 hours around the clock to keep everything running smoothly," the founder shared. She added: "I would like to say 'thank you' to them all."

Bored Panda was interested in getting the group founder's take as to why strange Google Earth content resonates with so many social media and internet users in the first place.

"I generally believe people are curious about the world we live in," she shared her perspective.

Not only that, ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies' may have seen so much growth because there weren't many competitors at the start of the lockdowns, three years ago.

"There weren't many Google Earth groups when I created my one," Josie said.

In the meantime, we were curious what advice Josie would give someone who's completely new to exploring the world using Google Earth. Though the program is widely known across the far reaches of the globe, there are, nonetheless, people who are new to it.

According to her, the best thing to do is to just get stuck in. "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," she told Bored Panda.

"Photo Sphere, a tool of Google Earth, is a great way to see photos people have took and shared with the app," she said.

The ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies’ is very active, with members sharing new posts every single day. There have been a whopping 6,822 posts on the group in the last month alone, which should tell you about the type of traffic there. As it turns out, people love exploring the globe with Google Earth.

The Google Earth project is, in fact, older than many folks might think: it was launched all the way back in June, 2001. At the time of writing, it was over 22 years old. The program uses satellite imagery, aerial photography, and GIS data to superimpose it on a three-dimensional globe. Users can then look at cities and landscapes from various angles. 

Back in 2019, Google announced that the Google Earth program captured 10 million miles of Strew View imagery, and 36 million square miles of Google Earth imagery, and covered over 97% of our planet. That doesn’t mean that the project is all-powerful, though! Internet users are forbidden from viewing certain sensitive areas and locations due to national security and privacy concerns. Some military bases, for instance, would be off-limits.

Google Earth is a far more varied project than some people realize. For one, the name is a bit of a misnomer because you can use the program to explore the Moon, our neighboring planet Mars. You can also access Google Sky which lets you navigate space. There’s a lot of cool stuff to be found if you’ve got a bit of time and a spot of patience! 

Meanwhile, Google Maps was launched a bit later than Google Earth, seeing its debut in February 2005, (18 years ago at the time of writing). Google Maps focuses on Stree View, looks at traffic conditions in real-time, and lets users plan their routes, no matter what mode of transportation they’re using. As of 2020, a billion people around the world use Google Maps every month. The program adds a lot of additional opportunities for digital explorers.

The ‘Google Earth, Structures and Anomalies’ Facebook group isn’t the only internet community dedicated to the program. Recently, Bored Panda spoke to Nik Ianevitch, the founder and curator of the ‘Weird Google Earth’ project, focusing on the interesting things found using Google Earth and Google Maps.