GeoCARET is a command line Python tool for delineating and analysing catchments and reservoirs. It relies on Google Earth Engine (GEE) - Google's cloud-based platform developed for planetary-scale environmental analysis. GeoCARET uses Google Earth Engine as a backend for performing geometry operations and data processing and as a database of global spatial data in the form of GIS layers. It additionally relies on several private assets not available in GEE. We have made these assets accessible for analysis by uploading them to a dedicated GEE asset folder.
To request access to those assets please send email to: tomasz.k.janus@gmail.com or tjanus.heet@gmail.com with your email address registered with Google Earth Engine.
Our software requires Python 3.8 or higher.
A number of additional python libraries are required to run the heet tool. These are listed in requirements.txt.
We advise that you create a separate python environment for running GeoCARET (see installation guide for step by step instructions).
The repository does not require installation but relies on a number of packages. We recommend that you set up a virtual environment dedicated to this repository before attempting to install all the dependencies. There are several packages for creating virtual environments such as venv, virtualenv, pyenv, etc. Please refer to web resources and find out what works best for you, e.g. in https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-setup-virtual-environments-in-python/.
The dependencies are included in requirements.txt. You can install these dependencies by running:
pip install -r requirements.txt
For more information, see installation guide in the docs for step by step instructions.
Full instructions for installing and using GeoCARET can be found in the docs folder. Here you'll find detailed instructions to help you. Please, pay special attention to point 2. We shall explain it more deeply at the end of this section.
- Register to use Google Earth Engine and prepare for running GeoCARET.
- Install GeoCARET on your computer. We recommend using the GeoCARET Docker image. More technical users can also Install GeoCARET and its dependencies if they prefer.
- Prepare suitable input data.
- Run an analysis.
- Explore the outputs.
Coming back to point 2, the repository has two release branches: main and geocaret_docker. The release in main and the geocaret_docker branches can be used from within a Python virtual environment under the requirements that all package dependencies have been met. Alternatively, the users can switch to the geocaret_docker branch and build and run the Docker image. The Docker image will include the Python library and external software dependencies and eliminate the need to install them explicitly. For more information please navigate to Install GeoCARET and its dependencies in geocaret_docker branch.
Please see the docs folder for instructions on (i) how to install and run GeoCARET (ii) how to prepare the input data.
This software has been written for research purposes and may not be as robust as the software designed to be used by the wider public. We are aware of this and we're trying to make constant improvements, developments and bug fixes. If you run into problems running this software, please submit an issue or contact us directly at tomasz.janus@manchester.ac.uk, tomasz.k.janus@gmail.com or jaise.kuriakose@manchester.ac.uk