Basic Examples

Start your Earth Engine journey with these fundamental examples that demonstrate core concepts and basic operations.

Basic Examples:

• Your First Earth Engine Script
  • What You’ll Learn
  • Prerequisites
  • Step 1: Initialize Earth Engine
  • Step 2: Load Your First Image
  • Step 3: Explore Image Properties
  • Step 4: Work with Image Bands
  • Step 5: Simple Calculations
  • Complete First Script
  • Understanding the Results
  • Common Issues and Solutions
  • What You’ve Learned
• Simple Calculations
  • What You’ll Learn
  • Prerequisites
  • Basic Mathematical Operations
  • Common Spectral Indices
  • Using ee.Image.expression()
  • Conditional Operations
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Complete Example
  • Visualization Parameters
  • Common Applications
  • Best Practices
  • Common Issues
  • Next Steps

Overview

These examples cover essential Earth Engine concepts:

• Authentication and Initialization: Setting up your environment

• Image Loading and Display: Working with satellite imagery

• Basic Calculations: Performing simple analyses

• Visualization: Creating maps and charts

• Data Export: Saving results for external use

Prerequisites

Before running these examples, ensure you have:

• Authenticated Earth Engine access

• Python 3.7+ with required packages

• Basic understanding of remote sensing concepts

• Familiarity with Python programming

Example Categories

Getting Started

• Your First Earth Engine Script - Your first Earth Engine script

• Basic image loading and information display

• Understanding Earth Engine objects and methods

Image Visualization

• <no title> - Displaying images with different band combinations

• Creating interactive maps

• Understanding visualization parameters

Simple Analysis

• Simple Calculations - Basic mathematical operations

• Spectral index calculations (NDVI, NDWI)

• Regional statistics and summaries

Common Patterns

Basic Script Structure

import ee

# Initialize Earth Engine
ee.Initialize(project='your-project-id')

# Load data
image = ee.Image('DATASET/IMAGE_ID')

# Process data
result = image.someOperation()

# Display or export results
print(result.getInfo())

Error Handling

import ee

try:
    ee.Initialize(project='your-project-id')
    # Your Earth Engine code here
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")
    # Handle authentication or other issues

Running the Examples

Method 1: Direct Execution

python examples/basic/01_hello_world.py

Method 2: Interactive Python

exec(open('examples/basic/01_hello_world.py').read())

Method 3: Jupyter Notebook

Copy the code into Jupyter notebook cells and run interactively.

Learning Path

Follow this recommended sequence:

1. Start Here: Your First Earth Engine Script

   • Understand Earth Engine initialization

   • Learn basic image loading

   • Practice with simple operations

2. Visualize Data: <no title>

   • Explore different imagery types

   • Master visualization parameters

   • Create interactive maps

3. Analyze Data: Simple Calculations

   • Perform basic calculations

   • Calculate spectral indices

   • Generate summary statistics

Tips for Success

Development Environment

• Use an IDE with good Python support

• Keep Earth Engine documentation handy

• Test code with small areas first

Best Practices

• Comment your code thoroughly

• Use descriptive variable names

• Handle errors gracefully

• Validate results before large-scale processing

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Forgetting to initialize Earth Engine

• Using incorrect band names

• Not handling authentication errors

• Processing areas that are too large

Next Steps

After mastering basic examples:

1. Intermediate Examples - Intermediate examples

2. API Reference - API reference

3. Authentication Troubleshooting - Problem solving

Note

All examples use placeholder project IDs. Replace ‘your-project-id’ with your actual Google Cloud project ID.

Tip

Start with small geographic areas and short time periods when learning. You can scale up once you understand the concepts.