Python installation

Install options

The Earth Engine Python API is available as a Python package that can be installed locally or accessed through a Google Colab Notebook.

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See alternative pip install instructions

Install the API to an arbitrary Python environment using pip. From a terminal or command prompt:

pip install earthengine-api

Once installed, you can import, authenticate and initialize as described here.

Update the API:

pip install earthengine-api --upgrade

Package import

The Python API package is called ee. It must be imported and initialized for each new Python session and script:

import ee

Authenticate to the Earth Engine servers:

ee.Authenticate()

Initialize the API:

ee.Initialize()

Syntax

Both the Python and JavaScript APIs access the same server-side functionality, but client-side expressions (learn more about client vs. server) can vary because of language syntax differences. The following table includes a list of the common syntax differences you'll encounter when working with the Python API relative to the JavaScript API.

Common syntax differences between JavaScript and Python
Property JavaScript Python
Function definition 
function myFun(arg) {
  return arg;
}

var myFun = function(arg) {
  return arg;
};
 
def my_fun(arg):
  return arg
Anonymous function mapping 
var foo = col.map(function(arg) {
  return arg;
});
 
foo = col.map(lambda arg: arg)
Variable definition 
var myVar = 'var';
 
my_var = 'var'
Logical operators 
var match = such.and(that);
var match = such.or(that);
var match = such.not(that);
 
match = such.And(that)
match = such.Or(that)
match = such.Not(that)
Multi-line method chain 
var foo = my.really()
              .reallyLong()
              .methodChain();
 
foo = (my.really()
       .reallyLong()
       .methodChain())
Dictionary keys 
var dic = {'key': value};
var dic = {key: value};
 
dic = {'key': value}
Dictionary object access 
var value = dic.key;
var value = dic['key'];
 
value = dic['key']
Function argument definition 
// Positional arguments.
var foo = fun(argX, argY, argZ);
// Keyword arguments object.
var foo = fun({y: argY});
 
# Positional arguments.
foo = fun(arg_x, arg_y, arg_z)
# Keyword arguments dictionary.
foo = fun(**{'y': arg_y})
# Keyword arguments.
foo = fun(x=arg_x, z=arg_z)
Boolean 
var t = true;
var f = false;
 
t = True
f = False
Null values 
var na = null;
 
na = None
comment 
//
 
#

Date objects

Define and manipulate client-side date objects with the datetime module. Include the module in your script:

import datetime

Convert ee.Date to client-side date:

ee_date = ee.Date('2020-01-01')
py_date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(ee_date.getInfo()['value']/1000.0)

Convert client-side date to ee.Date:

py_date = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
ee_date = ee.Date(py_date)

Exporting data

Exporting data with the Python API requires the use of the ee.batch module, which provides an interface to the Export functions. Pass parameter arguments as you would with the JavaScript API, minding the differences noted in the syntax table above. Export tasks must be started by calling the start() method on a defined task. Query a task's status by calling the status() method on it. The following example demonstrates exporting an ee.Image object.

Create an export task:

task = ee.batch.Export.image.toDrive(image=my_image,  # an ee.Image object.
                                     region=my_geometry,  # an ee.Geometry object.
                                     description='mock_export',
                                     folder='gdrive_folder',
                                     fileNamePrefix='mock_export',
                                     scale=1000,
                                     crs='EPSG:4326')

Start an export task:

task.start()

Check export task status:

task.status()

Printing objects

Printing an Earth Engine object in Python prints the serialized request for the object, not the object itself. Refer to the Client vs. server page to understand the reason for this.

Call getInfo() on Earth Engine objects to get the desired object from the server to the client:

# Load a Landsat image.
img = ee.Image('LANDSAT/LT05/C01/T1_SR/LT05_034033_20000913')

# Print image object WITHOUT call to getInfo(); prints serialized request instructions.
print(img)

# Print image object WITH call to getInfo(); prints image metadata.
print(img.getInfo())
Note that getInfo() is a synchronous operation, meaning execution of expressions following the getInfo() call are blocked until the result is returned to the client. Additionally, requests for a lot of data or expensive computations can return an error and/or hang. In general, the best practice is to export your results, and once complete, import them into a new script for further analysis.

UI objects

The Earth Engine ui module is only available through the JavaScript API Code Editor. Use third party libraries for UI elements in Python. Folium and ipyleaflet provide interactive map handling, while charting can be done with Matplotlib, Altair, or seaborn, to name a few. See examples in the Earth Engine in Colab setup notebook.