Class Four: Geospatial data ethics; Satellite imagery and remote sensing

Table of contents

1. Overview
2. Readings and Video
3. Class Notes/Tutorial
4. Useful resources
5. Assignment

Overview

In this session, we will begin with a discussion of geospatial data ethics, and think about the distinctive ethical issues that might arise in the context of working with GIS data. Then, we’ll introduce basic concepts and tools related to satellite imagery and remote sensing, and explore some social scientific applications of this data. The in-class exercise will focus on getting you acquainted with Google Earth Engine, which is a platform for extracting and analyzing remotely sensed data. To that end, please make sure you’ve been approved for Google Earth Engine access by the start of class (the process can take up to a week). More details on gaining access to GEE are available on the syllabus, under the section on “Course Materials and Software”.

Readings and Video

Required Viewing

• Remote Sensing Basics, by Russ Congalton. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYQsXs1Jr0Y. Please view the first 35 minutes.

• Overview of Earth Engine Platform by Nick Clinton. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAQV9lVZr_g. Please view the entire 13 minute video.

Required Reading: Satellite Imagery and Remote Sensing

Read ONE of the following:

• Casana, Jesse. 2021. “Rethinking the Landscape: Emerging Approaches to Archaeological Remote Sensing.” Annual Review of Anthropology 50: 167-186.
  doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110344

• Donaldson, Dave and Adam Storeygard. 2016. “The View from Above: Applications of Satellite Data in Economics.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 30(4): 171-198.
  doi: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.30.4.171

Required Reading: Geospatial Data Ethics

Read ONE of the following:

• Reid, Genevieve and Renee Sieber. 2020. “Learning from Critiques of GIS for assessing the geoweb and indigenous knowledges.” Geojournal.
  doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10285-2

• Taylor, Linnet. 2016. “No Place to Hide? The ethics and analytics of tracking mobility using mobile phone data.” Society and Space 34(2): 319-336.
  doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775815608851

Suggested Reading: Google Earth Engine

• Gorelick, Noel, Matt Hancher, Mike Dixon, Simon Ilyushchenko, David Thau, and Rebecca Moore. 2017. “Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone.” Remote Sensing of Environment 202(1): 18-27.
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.06.031

Class Notes/Tutorial

• Class 4 tutorial
• Class 4 Presentation

Useful resources

• There are a number of very good video tutorials on using Google Earth Engine. The best place to start is this webinar, presented by Stace Maples of the Stanford Geospatial Center.
• If you plan to do a lot of work with Earth Engine, and you are more comfortable using R than using JavaScript, you should checkout the newly developed RGEE package, which allows you to work with GEE data (and leverage the platform’s computational resources) from your desktop’s R Studio application. It can sometimes be a little challenging to install, but once it’s set up, it’s very nice to work with. I found this video to be a helpful RGEE installation guide. Looking through this repository of RGEE scripts is a great way to start learning the RGEE package.
• The official Google Earth Engine documentation page contains a number of useful guides and tutorials.

Assignment

There is no assignment for next class; please make sure to prepare a brief presentation on your final project, to be delivered next class.