Google Earth Engine
Google Earth Engine is a platform for environmental monitoring and analysis through satellite imagery and geospatial data.
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Google Earth Engine is a platform for environmental monitoring and analysis through satellite imagery and geospatial data.
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Google Earth Engine is a cloud-based platform for environmental data analysis, object and change detection. It brings together a large collection of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis capabilities. This tool is designed for researchers and analysts engaged in environmental monitoring, land-use change detection and object and infrastructure detection. It solves the problem of managing and analyzing large datasets that require significant computational resources and creating sophisticated interactive visualisations.
GEE can be used with the following programming languages and tools:
- using Javascript.
- using Python.
- using R.
- using QGIS.
There's a huge range of climate and weather, imagery and geophysical datasets available here:
Features:
Language: supports multiple languages.
The example below is from Bellingcat's . The is an example use case using satellite images of Iraq taken at night to track the destruction caused by the fight against the Islamic State. If cities and villages are demolished, they become often less visible from space since they emit less light.
Deforestation Monitoring: Utilizing the satellite imagery available on Google Earth Engine, researchers can track deforestation over time.
Urban Expansion Analysis: Analysts can use Google Earth Engine to monitor urban sprawl and the transformation of rural areas into urban centers.
Agriculture and Crop Monitoring: Farmers and agricultural researchers can leverage satellite data to monitor crop health and estimate yields.
Water Resources Monitoring: By analyzing historical and current satellite imagery, researchers can assess changes in water bodies.
Climate Change Impact Studies: Scientists use Google Earth Engine to model climate change scenarios and assess their impacts on ecosystems, sea levels, and weather patterns.
Individual sign up Earth Engine access (easy):
Google Account - a Google email address and associated account.
Google Cloud Project - a credit card and Google Cloud Project role with API access.
Learning Curve: The platform has a steep learning curve, especially for users without a programming background.
Privacy Concerns: Remote sensing technologies can capture detailed images from space or high altitude, potentially compromising individual privacy. Researchers must balance the public interest with the rights to privacy.
To effectively use Google Earth Engine, especially for beginners or those looking to refine their skills, the following resources are highly recommended:
Official Wiki
Tutorials and Articles
Video Tutorials
Community and Support
Bellingcat Volunteer Team
Full description including documentation
Latest features and changes: .
Google Earth Engine can be used for .
Google Account - a Google email address and associated account (see: )
A role on a Google Cloud project (more complicated but more secure. See: ):
Data Availability: Not all satellite data might be available or up-to-date. Each individual data set available in the details the availability of the individual dataset.
Processing Power: User code execution is limited by Google's computational resources, which might result in delays during peak usage. It's important to understand that processing on large datasets can hit processing limits see . For more information on GEE computational processing see the .
Export Restrictions: There are limits on the size and rate at which data can be exported from the platform. See for more information.
API Rate Limits: Usage of the Earth Engine API is subject to daily and per-minute to prevent abuse. See for more information.
Accuracy and Misinterpretation: Ensuring the accurate representation of data is critical. Misinterpretation of remote sensing data can lead to misinformation, shaping public opinion based on incorrect premises. Each dataset may have different standards for accuracy see the the for more information.
: full documentation in GEE.
: guides to the Javascript and Python APIs.
: catalog of all the available datasets.
: Bellingcat's tutorial to GEE written by Ollie Ballinger.
: full online course
: 2024).
: A place where users can ask questions about Google Earth Engine and receive answers from the community.
: Users can find or ask questions tagged with google-earth-engine, which includes topics on Google Earth Engine.
Google - United States.
