Introduction

These materials aim to help undergraduate students explore and understand changes in the global environment using Google Earth Engine. They introduce core concepts of geographic information systems and remote sensing, methods for implementing these concepts with Earth Engine’s javascript code editor, and a series of real-world problems and applications.

This is a work in progress. I will be using it in Fall 2022 to teach a course in Environmental Studies and Geography at Middlebury College and it will be updated continuously.

I’ve organized the primer into chapters that each contain about a week’s worth of content. Each chapter contains three sections:

Introduces key words, concepts, and principles of spatial analysis, spatial problem-solving, geographic information systems, and remote sensing.

Introduces code snippets to implement concepts with Google Earth Engine’s code editor.

Sketches geographic and environmental problems for students to solve by bringing together concepts and code.

I am also developing problem sets to assess near and far transfer of understanding. In my course, these function as exams and for that reason I keep them in a private repository. If you are an instructor who would like access to these materials, please contact me.

Jeff Howarth
Associate Professor of Geography
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, USA
jhowarth@middlebury.edu