Planet Collaborates with Google Earth to Offer NICFI Tropical Forest Basemaps in Google Earth Engine

Planet, a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, today announced a new collaboration with Google Earth to make high-resolution data from Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) Satellite Data program available on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Insights from Planet’s analysis-ready data combined with the power of Google’s Cloud will enable the entire NICFI community to analyze regional and global tropical forest losses on a scale not possible through traditional means.

With access to Planet’s high-quality data and analytics, countries around the globe are better prepared to protect the world’s tropical forests against deforestation and tackle climate change. Early-access users have already tested the new integration for real-world applications, facilitating next-level discussions among scientists and policymakers in the fight to reduce and reverse tropical forest loss. Some of these innovative applications include:

• SERVIR, is a partnership of NASA and USAID and leading geospatial organizations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, that helps communities incorporate satellite Earth data into decision-making, tackling complex challenges like food security, water resources, and disaster mitigations. With the integration of Planet-NICFI data into Google Earth Engine, SERVIR can deliver greater convenience to its partners and provide a new level of detail and insight to decision-makers. In West Africa, Planet-NICFI data is already helping SERVIR monitor charcoal production, a key driver of deforestation in the region.
• Researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands plan to utilize this solution to power machine learning models that can detect forest disturbances at higher spatial and temporal resolutions. With the Planet-NICFI analysis-ready Basemaps now available, the researchers will be able to test whether forest disturbances at scale can be classified using high-resolution, near-real time optical data.
• University of Copenhagen researchers can now directly access Planet-NICFI data in the GEE catalog, enabling pantropical analysis currently not possible on local servers. The group plans to utilize the integration for their custom studies on biomass mapping, tree species classification, and restoration monitoring.

“From its inception 10 years ago, Google Earth Engine’s mission has been a global-scale platform for Earth science data and analysis to further the most pressing environmental and societal issues we face,” said Brian Sullivan, Sr. Program Manager at Google. “By partnering with the NICFI program to connect the first high-resolution, deep time-series imagery with the latest geospatial and machine learning platforms, groups working to stop deforestation will now have access to insights and solutions at a previously unprecedented scale.”

“Ecological stewardship is at the heart of Planet’s mission,” said Kevin Weill, Planet’s President of Business & Product. “By collaborating with Google Earth to put Planet’s high-quality data in the hands of NICFI researchers, together we can unlock new insights and help prepare countries around the globe to protect the world’s tropical forests against deforestation and tackle climate change.”

The integration is currently available to NICFI Data Program users and GEE users.

About Planet

Planet is the leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites, capturing and compiling data from over 3 million images per day. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 600 customers, comprised of the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet recently entered into a definitive merger agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (NYSE:DMYQ), a special purpose acquisition company, to become a publicly-traded company. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on Twitter at @planet.

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