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<!DOCTYPE html> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no" name="viewport"> <title>FAQ – Google Earth Engine</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,400" nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Google+Sans|Google+Sans+Display" rel="stylesheet" nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/css/main.min.css" nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/static/images/earth_engine-228.png" type="image/x-icon"> <meta property="og:title" content="FAQ – Google Earth Engine"> <meta name="description" content="Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysisGoogle capabilities and makes it available for scientists, researchers, and developers to detect changes, map trends, and quantify differences on the Earth's surface."> <meta property="og:image" content="https://earthengine.google.com/static/images/landsat_social.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://earthengine.google.com/static/images/landsat_social.jpg"> <meta property="og:image:width" content="1220"> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1220"> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@GoogleEarth"> <meta name="twitter:title" content="FAQ – Google Earth Engine"> <meta name="twitter:description" content="Google Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis capabilities and makes it available for scientists, researchers, and developers to detect changes, map trends, and quantify differences on the Earth's surface."> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://earthengine.google.com/static/images/landsat_social.jpg"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://earthengine.google.com/faq/"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <body class="faq"> <div class="content-wrapper"> <header class="fixed"> <nav class="navbar"> <div class="hamburger"> <img src="https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/material/system/2x/menu_black_24dp.png" alt="Menu"> </div> <ul class="tabs right"> <li class="tab "> <a href="/platform/">Platform</a> <ul class="dropdown"> <li><a href="/platform">overview</a></li> <li> <a href="https://code.earthengine.google.com/" target="_blank">code editor</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/" target="_blank">documentation</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="tab"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/" target="_blank">Datasets</a> </li> <li class="tab "> <a href="/noncommercial/">Noncommercial</a> </li> <li class="tab "> <a href="/commercial/">Commercial</a> </li> <li class="tab "> <a href="/timelapse/">Timelapse</a> </li> <li class="tab "> <a href="/case_studies/">Case Studies</a> </li> <li class="tab selected"> <a href="/faq/">FAQ</a> </li> <li class="tab"> <a href="https://code.earthengine.google.com/register" target="_blank">Get started</a> </li> </ul> <div class="logo"> <a href="/"> <img src="/static/images/GoogleEarthEngine_Grey_108.png" alt="Google Earth Engine"> </a> </div> </nav> </header> <div class="main"> <div class="title"> <h1>FAQ</h1> </div> <div class="questions"> <ul> <li> <label for="q11"><h2>What is Earth Engine?</h2></label> <input id="q11" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Earth Engine is a platform for scientific analysis and visualization of geospatial datasets, for academic, non-profit, business and government users.</p> <p>Earth Engine hosts satellite imagery and stores it in a public data archive that includes historical earth images going back more than forty years. The images, ingested on a daily basis, are then made available for global-scale data mining. </p> <p>Earth Engine also provides APIs and other tools to enable the analysis of large datasets.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q12"><h2>How is Earth Engine different from Google Earth?</h2></label> <input id="q12" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Google Earth enables you to travel, explore, and learn about the world by interacting with a virtual globe. You can view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more. </p> <p>Earth Engine, on the other hand, is a tool for analyzing geospatial information. You can analyze forest and water coverage, land use change, or assess the health of agricultural fields, among many other possible analyses.</p> <p>While the two tools rely on some of the same data, only some of Google Earth's imagery and data is available for analysis in Earth Engine.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q13"><h2>How does Earth Engine data compare to the Landsat and Sentinel data in Google Cloud?</h2></label> <input id="q13" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>The Earth Engine team has worked in close collaboration with Google Cloud to bring the <a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/public-datasets/landsat" target="_blank">Landsat</a> and <a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/public-datasets/sentinel-2" target="_blank">Sentinel-2</a> collections to Google Cloud Storage as part of the Google Cloud <a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/public-datasets/">public data program</a>.</p> <p>The Google Cloud collections make it much easier and more efficient to access the data directly from Cloud services such as <a href="https://cloud.google.com/compute/">Google Compute Engine</a> or <a href="https://cloud.google.com/ml/">Google Cloud Machine Learning</a>. </p> <p>Please note that the Earth Engine Code Editor and API do not access these Cloud collections; they use the Earth Engine data catalog directly.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q14"><h2>Why is Google working on Earth Engine?</h2></label> <input id="q14" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/about/company/" target="_blank">Google's mission</a> is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. In line with this mission, Earth Engine organizes geospatial information and makes it available for analysis. </p> <p>More generally, Google strives to make the world a better place through the use of technology. Earth Engine's technical infrastructure powers humanitarian, scientific, and environmental initiatives which Google is proud to support.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q15"><h2>What can Earth Engine do for me or my organization?</h2></label> <input id="q15" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Earth Engine provides easy, web-based access to an extensive catalog of satellite imagery and other geospatial data in an analysis-ready format. The data catalog is paired with scalable compute power backed by Google data centers and flexible APIs that let you seamlessly implement your existing geospatial workflows. This enables cutting-edge, global scale analysis and visualization. </p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q16"><h2>Tell me what some others have done with Earth Engine</h2></label> <input id="q16" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Earth Engine is used by researchers, nonprofits, educators, and governmental agencies who use the system to analyze large-scale geospatial data. Please refer to our <a href="https://earthengine.google.com/case_studies/" target="_blank">Case Studies</a> for examples of Earth Engine in action.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q17"><h2>How do I get access?</h2></label> <input id="q17" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>To get access to Earth Engine, <a href="https://code.earthengine.google.com/register" target="_blank">register your Google Cloud Project</a>. See the <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/access" target="_blank">Google Earth Engine Developers Site</a> for more information. </div> </li> <li> <label for="q18"><h2>Can I access Earth Engine from more than one Google account?</h2></label> <input id="q18" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>An Earth Engine account is associated with a single Google account. Creating multiple Earth Engine accounts to circumvent quota restrictions is a violation of the <a href="/terms">Earth Engine Terms of Service.</a></p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q19"><h2>Tell me how Earth Engine works</h2></label> <input id="q19" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>See the <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/" target="_blank"> Google Earth Engine Developers Site </a>for documentation and examples.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q110"><h2>Is Earth Engine compatible with my existing tools?</h2></label> <input id="q110" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Imagery and data from third-parties may be imported into Earth Engine for analysis. Conversely, any analysis performed in Earth Engine can be downloaded for use by third-party tools.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q111"><h2>What datasets are available?</h2></label> <input id="q111" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>We have a searchable <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/" target="_blank">data catalog</a>, including the entire EROS (USGS/NASA) Landsat catalog, numerous MODIS datasets, Sentinel-1 data, NAIP data, precipitation data, sea surface temperature data, CHIRPS climate data, and elevation data.</p> <p>Users can also upload their own data for analysis in Earth Engine, with full control over access.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q112"><h2>How do I request additions to the public data catalog?</h2></label> <input id="q112" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Please file issues to request <a href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues?q=status:(open%20%7C%20new%20%7C%20assigned%20%7C%20accepted)%20componentid:1161680&p=1"> new datasets</a> or updates to <a href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues?q=status:(open%20%7C%20new%20%7C%20assigned%20%7C%20accepted)%20componentid:1161653"> existing datasets</a>.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q113"><h2>Can I use my own proprietary imagery and vector data?</h2></label> <input id="q113" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Yes. Earth Engine enables you to upload your own raster and vector data (e.g. GeoTIFF or Shape files) for analysis. </p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q114"><h2>How can I share/publish/etc. the results of my analysis?</h2></label> <input id="q114" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>We encourage you to share your results. You can share your results and analysis scripts directly with other Earth Engine users, or you can simply download and share them as you would any other data. However, if your results include use of the Google Maps basemap (such as a Code Editor screenshot), note that Google Maps and its imagery providers do <a href="https://about.google/brand-resource-center/products-and-services/geo-guidelines/#required-attribution">require attribution</a> and any Google citations in the screenshot should not be removed.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q115"><h2>How do I cite Earth Engine in publications?</h2></label> <input id="q115" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. <i>Remote Sensing of Environment</i>.</p> <pre> Bibtex: @article{gorelick2017google, title={Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone}, author={Gorelick, Noel and Hancher, Matt and Dixon, Mike and Ilyushchenko, Simon and Thau, David and Moore, Rebecca}, journal={Remote Sensing of Environment}, year={2017}, publisher={Elsevier}, doi={10.1016/j.rse.2017.06.031}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.06.031} } </pre> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q116"><h2>How much does Earth Engine cost?</h2></label> <input id="q116" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Earth Engine is free for noncommercial use: <a href="/noncommercial">learn more here</a>. For commercial or operational applications, please <a href="https://cloud.google.com/earth-engine/pricing" target="_blank">click here to learn more about pricing options</a>.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q117"><h2>Beyond evaluation, is Earth Engine available for commercial use?</h2></label> <input id="q117" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Yes! Earth Engine is now a Google Cloud product. <a href="http://cloud.google.com/earth-engine" target="_blank">Get more details here.</a></p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q118"><h2>Who owns the algorithms I write in Earth Engine and the results of my analyses?</h2></label> <input id="q118" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>You do. The results of all analyses you perform are yours. All algorithms that you write with our API are yours. Here's the <a href="/terms/">fine print</a>.</p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q119"><h2>Am I required to display my Earth Engine results on a Google Map?</h2></label> <input id="q119" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>You are free to display your Earth Engine results on Google Maps or any other mapping platform. </p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q120"><h2>What kind of support do you provide?</h2></label> <input id="q120" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p><b>Technical support:</b> Our <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/help" target="_blank">Help page</a> provides resources for getting support, including the option for Earth Engine users to join the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/google-earth-engine-developers" target="_blank">Developers email list</a> where our staff and other Earth Engine users answer questions.</p> <p><b>Training:</b> We hold frequent Earth Engine training sessions, including our annual Earth Engine User Summit and the Geo for Good conference, typically held at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA. To receive announcements about the sessions, stay subscribed to the Developers email list, and/or the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/earthoutreach" target="_blank">Google Earth Outreach mailing list</a>, which also provides information and training on other Google mapping tools. </p> <p><b>Paid Technical Support:</b> For commercial customers using Earth Engine in a commercial context, a range of support options are available to you through Google Cloud. <a href="https://cloud.google.com/support-hub" target="_blank">Get more details here</a>. </p> </div> </li> <li> <label for="q121"><h2>I’m a startup interested in using Earth Engine. Is there any program for Startups?</h2></label> <input id="q121" type="checkbox" name="toggle"> <div class="answer"> <p>Yes! The Google for Startups Cloud Program provides your funded startup with access to dedicated mentors and industry experts, product and technical support, Cloud cost coverage (up to $100,000) for each of the first two years, and more. <a href="https://cloud.google.com/startup" target="_blank"> Apply here</a> <p>If you’ve applied for this program, and were not eligible for it, please <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqTPoqKpz56TBlzp2wKCiBzkLJJ0YijbJQzPsS3LWuyRPmMA/viewform" target="_blank"> reach out here.</a></p> </div> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="split"></div> </div> <footer> <nav> <a href="/terms">Terms of Service</a> <a href="https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/" target="_blank">Privacy</a> <a href="https://www.google.com/about/" target="_blank">About Google</a> </nav> </footer> </div> <div class="drawer"> <nav class="drawer-nav"> <div class="drawer-header"> <div class="logo"> <a href="/"> <img src="/static/images/GoogleEarthEngine_Grey_108.png" alt="Google Earth Engine"> </a> </div> </div> <ul> <li class="item "> <a href="/platform/">Platform</a> </li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/" target="_blank">Datasets</a> </li> <li class="item "> <a href="/noncommercial/">Noncommercial</a> </li> <li class="item "> <a href="/commercial/">Commercial</a> </li> <li class="item "> <a href="/timelapse/">Timelapse</a> </li> <li class="item "> <a href="/case_studies/">Case Studies</a> </li> <li class="item selected"> <a href="/faq/">FAQ</a> </li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://code.earthengine.google.com/register" target="_blank">Get started</a> </li> <li class="divider"></li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://code.earthengine.google.com/" target="_blank">code editor</a> </li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/" target="_blank">documentation</a> </li> <li class="divider"></li> <li class="item "> <a href="/terms">Terms of Service</a> </li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/" target="_blank">Privacy</a> </li> <li class="item"> <a href="https://www.google.com/about/" target="_blank">About Google</a> </li> </ul> </nav> </div> <div class="video-wrapper"> <div id="video-player"></div> </div> <script src="/static/js/main.min.js" nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"></script> <script nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"> home.init(); </script> <script async="" src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-17137634-7" nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"></script> <script nonce="y11jWKPwUepdt5dD3K8VEA"> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-17137634-7'); </script> </body>