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Google Introduces the Google Earth Engine

12/2/2010

On December 2, 2010 Google introduced the Google Earth Engine, a cloud computing platform for processing satellite imagery and other Earth observation data. The engine provides access to a large warehouse of satellite imagery and the computational power needed to analyze those images. Initial applications of the platform included mapping the forests of Mexico, identifying water in the Congo basin, and detecting deforestation in the Amazon.

(http://blog.google.org/2010/12/introducing-google-earth-engine.html)

"Google Earth Engine brings together the world's satellite imagery—trillions of scientific measurements dating back more than 25 years—and makes it available online with tools for scientists, independent researchers, and nations to mine this massive warehouse of data to detect changes, map trends and quantify differences to the earth's surface" (http://earthengine.googlelabs.com/#intro).

"On February 11, [2013] NASA launched Landsat 8, the latest in a series of Earth observation satellites which started collecting information about the Earth in 1972. We're excited to announce that on May 30th, the USGS began releasing operational data from the Landsat 8 satellite, which are now available on Earth Engine. Explore the gallery below to see how we've used Landsat data to visualize thirty years of change across the entire planet. Congratulations to NASA and USGS for a successful launch!" (http://earthengine.google.org/#intro, accessed 10-20-2013). 

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