This class was not as easy as I expected; there was a tough learning curve. It felt as if only the first two assignments were meant for people trying to learn the software for the first time... however, I did enjoy the class. Prof Bo and TA Chen are very supportive, and I often found myself in their office hours. Expect to put more than 8 hours of weekly work into the class (especially if you are unfamiliar with GEE). I would recommend the class though. GEE is very useful and practical, more so than ENVI oftentimes. Professor Bo is very passionate about remote sensing and helping his students because he understands the class may be difficult.

This class, while challenging and fast-paced, was definitely worth the effort. You're exposed to Google Earth Engine (which to my knowledge is not discussed in other Geography courses) and you build up your coding & remote sensing knowledge each week through assignments & discussion posts. The weekly projects took me a lot of time, but starting early & working consistently throughout the week will make it a lot more manageable. Both Dr. Zhou & the TA (Chen) were readily available during class & office hours to help troubleshoot and give tips on the assignment.
I came into this class with practically no coding experience and I was able to do well, so don't let that discourage you. A willingness to learn and an interest in the subject is really all you need. Plus, Google Earth Engine is actually very cool-- throughout the course I found myself thinking more & more about the different potential applications, and its a pretty endless list. Having Dr. Zhou as a professor is great too-- he is extremely enthusiastic about the subject.

Technically I took GEOG 415, which is similar to the one listed here. I didn't have what should have been a predecessor under my belt, GEOG 411 Spatial Imaging, so a chunk of the content was hard for me to understand. I think this is the only course that uses Google Earth Engine, which I loved. It's a lot of coding, so brush up on your coding and also on understanding new syntax - that was the key part of GEE, knowing how to find and understand the weird syntax in this program. The content itself was interesting, the workload was harder than I anticipated, but what was most helpful was attending office hours and asking for help! Bo was a very responsive professor and helpful with my questions at all hours of the day. Having discussions with him on the content was incredibly helpful in understanding what we were doing each week. He also offers plenty of opportunities for extra credit.

Cool but hard class overall, looking forward to exploring GEE further in the future.

Bo is a very involved professor. He genuinely wants the best for his students, and expects a lot. If you put in the work and ask questions when you're struggling, this will be a very rewarding class (it looks good on a resume too). Definitely don't come in expecting a straightforward extension of ENVI/ArcMap based GIS classes you've taken previously; be ready to learn a whole new program.

This class was a new version of GEOG 174 based on Google Earth Engine, instead of the usual more physics/science based remote sensing taught by Okin. If you're into coding and data analysis, you'll feel right at home here. This class teaches Google Earth Engine and Javascript for remote sensing.

For a first-time class, during a pandemic no less, it turned out pretty good. There were a few hiccups, including a lack of student participation and an extremely rushed first couple weeks (if you don't have coding experience, you might have a hard time. However, Bo is really helpful during office hours if you ask for help). Ultimately, because this course is so packed with material, I learned a lot. But you definitely have to put in the time, especially if you don't know any coding.