What You'll Demonstrate
- Apply remote sensing concepts to a real-world problem of your choosing
- Select appropriate datasets and methods from the course
- Create reproducible analysis workflows in Earth Engine
- Communicate results through maps, figures, and written interpretation
- Demonstrate mastery of GEE skills learned throughout the course
Why This Matters
The final project is your capstone experience:
- Portfolio piece: Demonstrate your skills to future employers
- Integration: Combine multiple techniques into a complete workflow
- Independence: Practice making analysis decisions on your own
- Communication: Present technical work to broader audiences
Before You Start
- Prerequisites: Complete all prior labs and get your project proposal approved.
- Estimated time: 120+ minutes (multiple work sessions recommended)
- Materials: Earth Engine account, project plan, and reference sources.
Project Overview
Your project can be a research paper or an interactive app that demonstrates a complete workflow: problem framing, data selection, method, results, and discussion.
Key principles:
- Clarity - Can someone else understand what you did and why?
- Reproducibility - Can someone else run your code and get the same results?
- Technical rigor - Are your methods appropriate for your question?
Requirements
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Topic | Any domain covered in class (land cover, rivers, wildfires, health, agriculture, urban, etc.) |
| Data | Use at least one satellite image collection; cite all sources |
| Methods | Apply 2+ core methods (indices, reduction, classification, zonal stats, time series, etc.) |
| Outputs | Maps/figures and a table of key metrics |
| Reproducibility | Share a viewable Earth Engine script URL with documentation |
Project Ideas
- Change detection: Deforestation, urban expansion, or glacier retreat over 10+ years
- Disaster response: Flood mapping, fire severity, or hurricane damage assessment
- Agriculture: Crop classification, irrigation mapping, or drought monitoring
- Health: Heat exposure, air quality proxies, or disease risk factors
- Conservation: Wetland mapping, coral reef monitoring, or protected area analysis
- Urban: Green space access, urban heat islands, or informal settlement growth
Deliverables
- Report (4-6 pages)
- Title, author, and abstract (150-250 words)
- Introduction and research question
- Data and study area description
- Methods (include key code snippets and workflow diagram)
- Results (maps, charts, tables)
- Discussion (interpretation, limitations, future work)
- References (at least 3 peer-reviewed sources)
- Appendix: Earth Engine script URL(s) with viewer access and reproduction instructions
- Optional GEE App: Interactive application demonstrating your workflow
Grading Rubric (100 points)
| Criterion | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Problem Framing | 15 | Clear question with real-world relevance |
| Data Selection | 15 | Appropriate datasets, properly preprocessed |
| Methods | 25 | Correct application and clear justification |
| Results Quality | 25 | Clear maps, figures, and meaningful metrics |
| Reproducibility | 10 | Documented, runnable code with comments |
| Writing Quality | 10 | Clear prose, proper citations, professional format |
Suggested Timeline
| Week | Milestone | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Topic Selection | Choose topic, scout data, submit proposal |
| 2 | Prototype | Develop initial analysis, create early figures |
| 3 | Full Analysis | Complete methods, generate all results |
| 4 | Polish & Submit | Write report, refine code, create app (optional) |
Before Submitting, Ask Yourself
- Is my research question clearly stated and answerable with my data?
- Can someone else run my code and understand what it does?
- Do my maps and figures have proper titles, legends, and scale bars?
- Have I discussed limitations and potential improvements?
- Are all my data sources properly cited?
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Scope too broad: Focus on one specific question rather than many
- No preprocessing: Always apply cloud masking and quality filters
- Missing context: Explain WHY your results matter, not just what they are
- Uncommented code: Add comments explaining each major step
- No error handling: Test with different AOIs and date ranges
?? Final Project Submission
Subject: Final Project - [Your Name]
Submit:
- PDF report (4-6 pages)
- Earth Engine script URL(s) with viewer access enabled
- Link to GEE App (if created)
- Any exported data files (CSV, GeoTIFF) as appendix