Using Planet in Google Earth Engine
Band combinations
Set your band combinations to visualize the Planet map layer. True color settings produce a “natural” visualization. False color visualizations reveal and enhance spectral data otherwise invisible to the human eye. For example, re-ordering the near-infrared, green and red bands from 8-band imagery emphasizes the near-infrared features that can highlight vegetation health.
For more information on the Planet’s spectral bands, see the Band order and sensor frequency table at Understanding PlanetScope Instruments.
Visualizing your imagery: 4-band images
True color
You may see black footprints when you first Map.addLayer your image collection. To generate a true color visualization, add visualization parameters to your addLayer request.
The band order on the Planet 4-band sensors is: Blue, Green, Red, NIR.
Map.addLayer(imageCollection, {"opacity":1,"bands":["B3","B2","B1"],"min":405.79,"max":4499.71,"gamma":2.331})
False color infrared
To generate a false color infrared image, simply swap around the bands.
Map.addLayer(imageCollection, {"opacity":1,"bands":["B4","B2","B3"],"min":405.79,"max":4499.71,"gamma":2.331})
Visualizing your imagery: 8-band images
True Color
The following example displays the “natural” red, green, and blue bands from the imagery:
Map.addLayer(imageCollection, {"opacity":1,"bands":["B6","B4","B2"],"min":405.79,"max":4499.71,"gamma":2.331})
False color infrared
In the following example, by ordering near infrared, green, and red bands users can create a false color infrared display that highlights the near-infrared data in your imagery. False color infrared is useful for seeing differences in vegetation.
Map.addLayer(imageCollection, {"opacity":1,"bands":["B8","B4","B6"],"min":405.79,"max":4499.71,"gamma":2.331})
Band Math
NDVI on 4-band imagery
This code sample runs on an image (as opposed to an imageCollection) and uses GEE's normalizedDifference function to generate a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) output from Planet's NIR & Red spectral channels.
Map.addLayer(image.normalizedDifference(['B4', 'B3']).rename('NDVI'), {min: -1, max: 1, palette: ['blue', 'white', 'green']});
NDVI on 8-band imagery
Map.addLayer(image.normalizedDifference(['B8', 'B6']).rename('NDVI'), {min: -1, max: 1, palette: ['blue', 'white', 'green']});
Working with cloud masks: UDM2
Visualizing usable pixels
Ordering a Planet imagery bundle like analytic_sr_udm2 appends the Usable Data Mask 2.0 (UDM2) bands to your 4-band PlanetScope images, resulting in a twelve band image in Earth Engine.
Map.addLayer(image.select('Q8'), {min: 0, max: 1, palette: ['black', 'white']});
Rate this guide: