Welcome to PlanetSCA’s documentation¶

PlanetSCA¶

PlanetSCA is an open source python library for mapping snow covered areas (SCA) from high-resolution PlanetScope images using a Random Forest model. This package was developed from original work by Kehan Yang and others.

This library also include access to a pre-trained model for mapping SCA in PlanetScope imagery, and sample data to demonstrate the library’s functions.

The search and download functions require you to have an account with Planet and an API key.

planetsca_flowchart

Documentation¶

Please see the Getting Started pages of the website for installation and basic usage examples. See the API Reference pages for detailed documentation.

Citations¶

When using this package, please cite both the package and the original study describing the model:

Citing PlanetSCA:

Citing the original study:

Yang K., John A., Shean D., Lundquist J.D., Sun Z., Yao F., Todoran S., and Cristea N. (2023) High-resolution mapping of snow cover in montane meadows and forests using Planet imagery and machine learning. Front. Water 5:1128758. doi: 10.3389/frwa.2023.1128758

Other material of interest:

Code from the original study which was adapted into this library can be found here.
A tutorial describing the random forest model in the original study is published as a GeoScience Machine Learning Resources and Training (GeoSMART) here.

Getting Started