Earth Engine Authentication#

Before using Ndvi2Gif, you need to authenticate with Google Earth Engine.

Creating an Earth Engine Account#

Go to Google Earth Engine signup
Sign in with your Google account
Fill out the registration form
Wait for approval (usually instant for .edu emails, or within 1-2 days)

Note

Earth Engine is free for research, education, and non-profit use!

Authentication Methods#

Method 1: Interactive Authentication (Recommended for First Time)#

import ee

# Trigger authentication flow
ee.Authenticate()

# Initialize Earth Engine
ee.Initialize()

This will:

Open a browser window
Ask you to sign in with Google
Generate a verification code
Store credentials locally for future use

Method 2: Notebook Authentication#

In Jupyter notebooks or Colab:

import ee

# Authenticate using notebook mode
ee.Authenticate(force=True)  # Use force=True to re-authenticate

# Initialize
ee.Initialize()

Method 3: Using Service Accounts (Advanced)#

For production environments or automated workflows:

import ee

# Path to your service account key file
service_account = 'your-service-account@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com'
credentials = ee.ServiceAccountCredentials(service_account, 'path/to/key.json')

# Initialize with service account
ee.Initialize(credentials)

Note

Service accounts require setting up credentials in Google Cloud Platform. See EE documentation for details.

Testing Your Authentication#

Verify that authentication works:

import ee

# Initialize
ee.Initialize()

# Test with a simple computation
point = ee.Geometry.Point([-3.7, 40.4])  # Madrid, Spain
image = ee.Image('COPERNICUS/S2_SR_HARMONIZED/20230601T110621_20230601T110616_T30TVK')

# Get a value
value = image.select('B8').reduceRegion(
    reducer=ee.Reducer.mean(),
    geometry=point,
    scale=10
).getInfo()

print(f"✓ Authentication successful! NIR value: {value['B8']}")

Authentication Storage#

Credentials are stored in:

Linux/Mac: ~/.config/earthengine/
Windows: C:\Users\YourName\.config\earthengine\

You only need to authenticate once per machine.

Common Authentication Issues#

Issue: “Permission denied” errors#

Try re-authenticating:

import ee
ee.Authenticate(force=True)
ee.Initialize()

Issue: “Project not found”#

Specify your project explicitly:

import ee
ee.Initialize(project='your-project-id')

Find your project ID at Google Cloud Console.

Issue: Browser doesn’t open during authentication#

Use the command-line authentication:

earthengine authenticate

Or manually copy the authentication URL from the error message.

Issue: Token expired#

Re-run the authentication:

import ee
ee.Authenticate(force=True)

Google Colab Specifics#

In Google Colab, use:

import ee
ee.Authenticate()
ee.Initialize(project='your-project-id')

Colab requires specifying a project ID.

Best Practices#

Don’t share credentials: Never commit .config/earthengine/ to version control
Re-authenticate periodically: Tokens can expire after long periods
Use service accounts for production: Better for automated scripts
Test after authentication: Always verify with a simple query

Next Steps#

Now that you’re authenticated, let’s create your first analysis in the Quick Start guide.