Yesterday at the International Climate Change Conference, Google released a mountain of data for scientists around the world to analyze and use. Known as “Google Earth Engine“, it gives researchers access to this huge pile of data, along with computing power to deal with all of it.
The data includes Landsat satellite data and “trillions of scientific measurements” covering the past 25 years.
So what can be done with all of this data? Thanks to some launch partners, there are already a handful of projects underway. For example, below is a map showing the loss of forest cover in the Congo for the past 10 years, taken from the Earth Engine Map Gallery.
To go along with this, Google is also donating 10 million CPU-hours for each of the next two years, to help developing nations track the state of their forests. This is in anticipation for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries), which offers financial incentives for tropical nations that protect their forests.
Do you plan to use Google Earth Engine? If not, what would you use it for if you had the chance?
(via Lat Long Blog)
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.