Session Description: NASA’s free and open remotely-sensed Earth science data have provided a fundamental shift in the ability to directly detect and indirectly model the distribution of biological diversity across our planet. These datasets document changes in the physical processes across Earth’s surface and gauge the overall pulse of life on Earth. Untapped applications still remain for historic datasets, and newly gathered data open the door for answering previously intractable questions.
Google Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis capabilities. Scientists, researchers, and developers use Earth Engine to detect changes, map trends, and quantify differences on the Earth's surface. This platform provides a means to integrate multiple datasets across different spatial scales and produce time series for analytics pertinent to a wide range of ecological, conservation, and management applications.
This hands-on training will provide an overview of Google Earth Engine within the context of ecological research and applications. Information on the most commonly used NASA datasets to directly detect and indirectly model species distribution and how to access them through the Earth Engine platform will be provided. Lastly, this workshop will walk participants through an example of how to apply NASA ecological datasets for a specific use case.
It is expected that participants will have a basic working knowledge of geospatial concepts and some programming experience.
