Google Earth Engine

Google Earth Engine is a planetary-scale platform designed for Earth science data and analysis, leveraging Google's robust cloud infrastructure. This powerful tool integrates a vast multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and diverse geospatial datasets with advanced analysis capabilities. It is utilized by scientists, researchers, and developers to monitor environmental changes, identify trends, and quantify differences across the Earth's surface. The platform is available for commercial use, while remaining free for academic and research purposes.

The platform offers access to an extensive public data archive, which includes over eighty petabytes of historical imagery and scientific datasets, updated and expanded daily. Its powerful API is accessible via both Python and JavaScript, enabling users to harness Google's cloud for their geospatial analysis needs. A web-based code editor further facilitates fast, interactive algorithm development with instant access to the massive datasets.

Earth Engine has a significant scientific and humanitarian impact, as highlighted by Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, who states it has made it possible to "rapidly and accurately process vast amounts of satellite imagery." It enables applications such as the Google Earth Timelapse, providing insight into petabyte-scale datasets, and is used by scientists and non-profits for remote sensing research, predicting disease outbreaks, and natural resource management.