GEE was designed with a disciplinary scientist in mind (that’s you!). Don’t hesitate to dig into the documentation, start discussions on the forum, suggest datasets and give feedback along the way.
Bookmark These Webpages
The JavaScript API and online code editor are the best way to develop processing algorithms and get help from the forums. The Python API is generally recommended for production level implementation of developed algorithms.
Because of this, working with GEE is easier with quick access to the online elements. We recommend adding these bookmarks to your web browser for easy use:
There is also a link to the forum from the “Help” drop down menu in the code editor, but a bookmark can be nice for frequent use
The Google Team is extremely active in the forums and are a vital resource. GEE’s documentation isn’t always complete, so if you’re stuck on something, ask!
Recommendation: Set your email delivery preference to “Send daily summaries.” No one wants to receive an email for each post to the forum, but scanning the daily digest for topics you anticipate needing in the future is a great way to pre-emptively find code examples for your work. It’s also likely you’ll discover a use you didn’t know existing through other folks posts.
Tip: When posting questions to the forum, you’ll get the best help if you include a link to your current script that others are able to run in order to help you troubleshoot. Dummy examples can work great, and if you share your actual workspace, be sure that any assets or fusion tables loaded in your script are publicly shared
Additional Learning Resources
There are several educational and training resources available to continue learning about GEE.
Educational resources: provides remote sensing curricula developed with GEE
Training resources: Provides resources for those teaching others to use GEE. This includes a general introductory Powerpoint and the Beginner and Intermediate Workshop materials run by GEE
Posted by popular demand. An EXCELLENT resource. Debug a programmer’s code, and you appease her forum posts for the script. Teach a programmer to debug, and you appease her forum posts for a lifetime.
If you continue to use GEE, you will inevitably begin to have questions about how GEE works under the hood in (possibly vain) attempts to help optimize your workflow. Sometimes operations time out or don’t run. In general, GEE’s inner workings are quite opaque. Typical fixes and approaches that data scientists use don’t really apply in GEE’s framework. This thread provides some useful information about what users can and cannot control. Highly recommended reading for regular GEE users.
The Earth Engine Team recently published an overview of the GEE platform. It also provides nice tables of currently available datasets and available functions.
Key Points
Google Earth Engine is a planetary-scale geospatial analysis platform.
The Developers Guide has wide collection of documentation and example codes.
The Developers Forum can be used to post questions or answer questions about GEE code.
The Code Editor and GEE website contain many resources including the data catalog, code documentation and places for user feedback.