Jakarta, July 2019 – In building MapBiomas Indonesia networks, a group of civil society organizations was trained basic materials on the introduction of Google Earth Engine (GEE) and cloud-based satellite image processing.
Cesar Diniz and Luis Cortinhas, two spatial and programming experts from SOLVED Brasil, a member of MapBiomas Brasil became instructors who spent three days at the Royal Kuningan Hotel. The trainees consisted of HAKA Aceh, HAKI South Sumatra, GENESIS Bengkulu, SAMPAN West Kalimantan, SAVE OUR BORNEO Central Kalimantan, GREEN of BORNEO Kaltara, KOMIU Central Sulawesi, MNUKWAR Papua Barat, JERAT Papua, WWI and Auriga Nusantara.
MapBiomas is a platform presenting land-covers, including its dynamics, and developed by civil society networks in Brazil. Google Earth Engine (GEE), a platform designed by google that can store and process spatial data including satellite imageries, is a key element of MapBiomas.
Auriga Nusantara initiated to develop this platform in Indonesia by involving civil society organizations who have characteristics of utilizing spatial data in their work. Because it was designed to present data throughout Indonesia, the involved civil society organizations were vary representing major islands in Indonesia.
In this basic training, participants were trained to logic and apply it into certain formulas in the java script which was the programming language used to operate GEE. The java script was challenging because although the participants were accustomed processing spatial data, most of them had not had any programming background. So, participants needed time understanding the java script, implementing it into formulas, and presenting results. However, GEE eases storing and processing data although the processed data were in terra-byte caused by a long time series of satellite imageries compilations.
The trainees were projected to be the MapBiomas Indonesian team, which consists of the core team (Auriga Nusantara and Woods & Wayside International, Inc.) and the regional team (representing regions in Indonesia).
