Bridging ICTs and the Environment - Monitoring Climate Change Impact Using GEE

Every hour numerous satellites generate hundreds of images of Earth's surface, capturing multiple aspects of anthropogenic activities as well as environmental processes. For many years having access to, analyzing, and interpreting these petabytes of information (very Big Data) was a privilege of a handful of experts. The latest developments in computer technologies and the appearance of new tools allowed free access and easy use of that knowledge not only to researchers but also to professionals in various domains.
 
Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a game-changing technology, a free cloud-based platform providing access to multiple repositories of worldwide satellite imagery and geospatial data as well as powerful computation for quick analysis and visualization of large datasets. The GEE platform provides the agile tool for data catalog, storage, and analysis. The data catalog consists of different free geospatial data, including satellite imageries (optical and radar), climate parameters (temperature, precipitation, and so on), relief (digital elevation models), land cover maps, and a variety of socio-economic variables.
 
This course aims to provide a basic, yet practical understanding of relevant geospatial techniques and real-world applications using GEE. Fundamentals of remote sensing and GIS packages will be covered, explaining how contemporary data is generated and how technology can be used.
 
Participants will be familiarized with spatial data search techniques, the process of data analysis using GEE, as well as results visualization and interpretation. The course concludes with participants developing and presenting their own examples of GEE platform use.
 
By the end of the course, participants should be able to 

• understand the principles of remote sensing data and analysis techniques;
• acquire geospatial and other related datasets useful for geospatial analysis;
• develop own scripts for data visualization and analysis;
• perform data analysis (e.g. classification) using machine learning algorithms 

The course is organized as a series of online presentations (both synchronous and asynchronous) followed by practicals (detailed video instructions), consultations with instructors, and individual work on map development.

Passing the course is based upon completion of the following:

• practical sessions: series of maps should be developed and submitted;
• individual project: a map of interest to be developed and presented.

Participants who have passed the course will receive a CEU SUN certificate on successful course completion and, if requested, ECTS points, which may be accepted for credit transfer by the participants' home universities. 

About ISEPEI
The Monitoring Climate Change Impact Using GEE workshop continues the series of joint UN-CEU training events under the ISEPEI Project “Bridging ICTs and the Environment”. The ISEPEI Project aims to address the gap between the geospatial industry and policy-/decision-makers by providing in-service education and professional training.

For more information about ISEPEI courses http://www.isepei.org/.

See a video of the previous ISEPEI workshops held at CEU Summer University.