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Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. When Rebecca Moore was working with Amazonian tribes back in 2007 on ways to use Google Earth to map forest cover, the consensus was that the satellite imagery program was useful, but they wanted more.

Last year, Google launched its Earth Engine, which complemented the standard, but static, satellite images with “trillions of scientific measurements dating back more than 25 years,” allowing scientists to “detect changes, map trends and quantify differences on the earth’s surface,” according to its developers.

“There are fantastic images of the earth from space that have been taken over the past 25 years,” says Moore, a scientist at Google. “If those data could be put in the hands of people or scientists, they could see in great detail how earth has been changing, such as where forests are being planted and ice sheets are melting.”

Moore, who was in Indonesia recently for a forest meeting in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan, says the program is now available on smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system and made available in a pilot project to indigenous groups in the Amazon, Tanzania, Uganda and Mexico to monitor forests and support law enforcement.

“For example, an Indian chief in the Amazon, when he finds some indication of illegal activity in his area, will take out his Android smartphone to take pictures and a video, note the time and date, the GPS location, and submit it through the phone,” she says.

“Then it will automatically be put up on the [Google Earth Engine] map for others to see. So it’s strengthening local communities and giving them an important role in defending the forests. All kinds of information can be brought up on Google Earth Engine; it’s like having a dashboard for the planet.”

One of Google Earth Engine’s success stories comes from the Surui tribe in the Rondonia region of Brazil. The tribe was seeking compensation from the government for preserving forests in its area and storing carbon.

Moore explained that by using the application to upload pictures of trees, along with information on their diameter and height, a rough calculation of the carbon stored in the trees could easily be figured out using an equation.

“Scientists can convert that biomass or volume of the tree [into the stored carbon value],” she says. “These are equations that aren’t that complicated to calculate.”

She says that using this method, the Surui were able to get $60 million for conserving the trees on their 600,000 acres of land.

Before Google Earth Engine, scientists and environmentalists were already using the simpler Google Earth to assist in forest conservation purposes.

“They were using Google Earth for positive benefits, starting from environmental education and crisis response, to natural disaster mitigation, human rights issues, tracking refugees and many more,” Moore says.

The shortcoming of Google Earth, Moore says, is that “it only lets you look at satellite imagery, but it doesn’t analyze or measure the changes to the [earth’s features].”

However, persuading policy makers about the benefits of Google Earth Engine has not been easy, Moore concedes, because of the misconception that the data does not constitute accurate scientific findings.

She cites her own experience from 2005 when there were plans to log timber in her community.

“I’m a mapping geek, so I ended up remapping what they wanted to do with the areas,” she says. “It was shocking because the impact could reach our community centers and schools. I showed it to the community, then to local politicians and newspapers. But the logging company said Google Earth is just a toy and you can’t use it.

“It’s not a toy. It’s accurate with satellite imagery and the information I transfer is accurate. I was able to use Google Earth to show that [the logging plan was] illegal.”

Google Earth Engine goes further and allows people to compile reports and statistics.

“This will end up making the governments want to use it too, such as Mexico and someday Indonesia,” Moore says. She adds that she has discussed it with Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the government’s task force on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).