Announcement: All noncommercial projects registered to use Earth Engine before April 15, 2025 must verify noncommercial eligibility to maintain Earth Engine access.
Introduction to Forest Change Analysis in Earth Engine
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
Figure 1. Forest change estimated by Hansen et al. (2013). Global Change,
2000 - 2012 (left); Change in Riau, Indonesia, 2000 - 2012 (center); Change in Paraguay,
2000 - 2012 (right)
Welcome to the Google Earth Engine tutorial for using
Hansen et al. (2013) global
forest cover and change data and Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA,
Hammer
et al. 2009) data from Global Forest
Watch. This tutorial provides examples of how to use Earth Engine to visualize these
data, how to compute forest change over time and other statistics within a region of
interest and how to download both the data and results of analyses.
License and Attribution
The data described in this tutorial are licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please use the recommended citation on
the relevant dataset description
page.
Prerequisites
The tutorial assumes no programming background, although it does assume a willingness to
learn some programming. Before proceeding, please make sure to:
Signup for Earth Engine. Once
you have been accepted, you will receive an email with additional information.
Get familiar with the Earth
Engine Code Editor, the IDE for writing Earth Engine JavaScript code in a web
browser. Learn more about the Code Editor here.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2021-05-26 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis tutorial demonstrates how to use Google Earth Engine to analyze forest cover and change data from Hansen et al.(2013) and Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA).\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers will learn to visualize forest data, calculate forest change statistics, and download data and analysis results within a specific region.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBefore starting, users need an Earth Engine account, familiarity with the Code Editor, basic JavaScript knowledge, and a basic understanding of the Earth Engine API.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe data used in this tutorial is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and appropriate citation is encouraged.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can proceed to the next part of the tutorial after fulfilling the prerequisites and familiarizing themselves with the platform.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["The tutorial guides users on utilizing Google Earth Engine to analyze global forest cover and change data from Hansen et al. (2013) and Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA) data. It demonstrates visualizing the data, calculating forest change over time within specific regions, and downloading both data and analysis results. Users must sign up for Earth Engine, familiarize themselves with the Code Editor, and have a basic understanding of JavaScript and the Earth Engine API.\n"],null,["|---|---|---|---|\n| | | | |\n\nFigure 1. Forest change estimated by Hansen et al. (2013). Global Change, 2000 - 2012 (left); Change in Riau, Indonesia, 2000 - 2012 (center); Change in Paraguay, 2000 - 2012 (right)\n\nWelcome to the Google Earth Engine tutorial for using\n[Hansen et al. (2013)](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6160/850) global\nforest cover and change data and Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA,\n[Hammer\net al. 2009](https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/1423248_file_Hammer_Kraft_Wheeler_FORMA_FINAL.pdf)) data from [Global Forest\nWatch](http://www.globalforestwatch.org/). This tutorial provides examples of how to use Earth Engine to visualize these\ndata, how to compute forest change over time and other statistics within a region of\ninterest and how to download both the data and results of analyses.\n\nLicense and Attribution\n\nThe data described in this tutorial are licensed under a Creative\nCommons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please use the recommended citation on\nthe relevant [dataset description\npage](/earth-engine/datasets).\n\nPrerequisites\n\nThe tutorial assumes no programming background, although it does assume a willingness to\nlearn some programming. Before proceeding, please make sure to:\n\n- [Signup for Earth Engine](https://signup.earthengine.google.com). Once you have been accepted, you will receive an email with additional information.\n- Get familiar with the [Earth\n Engine Code Editor](https://code.earthengine.google.com), the IDE for writing Earth Engine JavaScript code in a web browser. Learn more about the Code Editor [here](/earth-engine/guides/playground).\n- If you are unfamiliar with JavaScript, check out the [JavaScript for Earth Engine tutorial](/earth-engine/tutorials/tutorial_js_01).\n- If you are unfamiliar with the Earth Engine API, check out the [Introduction to the Earth Engine API](/earth-engine/tutorials/tutorial_api_01) tutorial.\n\nOnce you're familiar with JavaScript, the Earth Engine API and Code Editor,\n[get started on the tutorial](/earth-engine/tutorials/tutorial_forest_02)!"]]