Google Earth Engine
Google Earth Engine pairs a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale compute, and now hosts the AlphaEarth satellite-embedding layer. It is free for noncommercial research and education, with a paid plan for commercial and operational use.
Google Earth EngineInside Google Earth Engine
Earth Engine exposes a 40-year, multi-petabyte archive (Sentinel, Landsat, MODIS and hundreds of curated collections) through a server-side compute model, so analysis runs next to the data rather than after a bulk download.
It hosts ready GeoAI layers including the AlphaEarth Foundations Satellite Embedding dataset, which lets you classify land from sparse labels, a strong fit for low-label tropical sites.
Access is tiered: noncommercial use (nonprofits, academia, scientific research) stays free, while private companies and operational government users register a Cloud project on a paid commercial plan.
Biomass, change and land-cover analysis over a project area, run next to a 40-year satellite archive rather than after a bulk download.
Recent developments
- Sep 2025Noncommercial Earth Engine projects required periodic reverification, with access paused for unverified projects.
- Jul 2025AlphaEarth Foundations Satellite Embedding dataset published in the Earth Engine Data Catalog.
Using Google Earth Engine in a project
The provider’s own site holds its current capabilities, access terms and documentation. Read them before selecting the tool or planning an integration.