Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case

This paper investigates the web-based remote sensing platform, Google Earth Engine (GEE) and evaluates the platform's utility for performing raster and vector manipulations on Landsat, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and GlobCover (2009) imagery. We assess its capacity to conduct...

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Main Authors: Nanki Sidhu, Edzer Pebesma, Gilberto Câmara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
Series:European Journal of Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2018.1451782
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author Nanki Sidhu
Edzer Pebesma
Gilberto Câmara
author_facet Nanki Sidhu
Edzer Pebesma
Gilberto Câmara
author_sort Nanki Sidhu
collection DOAJ
description This paper investigates the web-based remote sensing platform, Google Earth Engine (GEE) and evaluates the platform's utility for performing raster and vector manipulations on Landsat, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and GlobCover (2009) imagery. We assess its capacity to conduct space–time analysis over two subregions of Singapore, namely, Tuas and the Central Catchment Reserve (CCR), for Urban and Wetlands land classes. In its current state, GEE has proven to be a powerful tool by providing access to a wide variety of imagery in one consolidated system. Furthermore, it possesses the ability to perform spatial aggregations over global-scale data at a high computational speed though; supporting both spatial and temporal analysis is not an obvious task for the platform. We examine the challenges that GEE faces, also common to most parallel-processing, big-data architectures. The ongoing refinement of this system makes it promising for big-data analysts from diverse user groups. As a use case for exploring GEE, we analyze Singapore’s land use and cover. We observe the change in Singapore’s landmass through land reclamation. Also, within the region of the CCR, a large protected area, we find forest cover is not affected by anthropogenic factors, but instead is driven by the monsoon cycles affecting Southeast Asia.
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spelling doaj.art-1cf74802f595445ab5e8d2869dd0e3252022-12-21T19:06:33ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Remote Sensing2279-72542018-01-0151148650010.1080/22797254.2018.14517821451782Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use caseNanki Sidhu0Edzer Pebesma1Gilberto Câmara2Institute for Geoinformatics, Westfaelische-Wilhelms UniversitaetInstitute for Geoinformatics, Westfaelische-Wilhelms UniversitaetInstitute for Geoinformatics, Westfaelische-Wilhelms UniversitaetThis paper investigates the web-based remote sensing platform, Google Earth Engine (GEE) and evaluates the platform's utility for performing raster and vector manipulations on Landsat, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and GlobCover (2009) imagery. We assess its capacity to conduct space–time analysis over two subregions of Singapore, namely, Tuas and the Central Catchment Reserve (CCR), for Urban and Wetlands land classes. In its current state, GEE has proven to be a powerful tool by providing access to a wide variety of imagery in one consolidated system. Furthermore, it possesses the ability to perform spatial aggregations over global-scale data at a high computational speed though; supporting both spatial and temporal analysis is not an obvious task for the platform. We examine the challenges that GEE faces, also common to most parallel-processing, big-data architectures. The ongoing refinement of this system makes it promising for big-data analysts from diverse user groups. As a use case for exploring GEE, we analyze Singapore’s land use and cover. We observe the change in Singapore’s landmass through land reclamation. Also, within the region of the CCR, a large protected area, we find forest cover is not affected by anthropogenic factors, but instead is driven by the monsoon cycles affecting Southeast Asia.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2018.1451782Google Earth Enginebig-data architectureland coverurban areastime series analysis
spellingShingle Nanki Sidhu
Edzer Pebesma
Gilberto Câmara
Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
European Journal of Remote Sensing
Google Earth Engine
big-data architecture
land cover
urban areas
time series analysis
title Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
title_full Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
title_fullStr Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
title_full_unstemmed Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
title_short Using Google Earth Engine to detect land cover change: Singapore as a use case
title_sort using google earth engine to detect land cover change singapore as a use case
topic Google Earth Engine
big-data architecture
land cover
urban areas
time series analysis
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2018.1451782
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