ee.Geometry.Rectangle.difference

  • Returns a Geometry representing the portion of the 'left' geometry that does not intersect with the 'right' geometry.

  • Accepts a 'right' Geometry as input to define the area to subtract.

  • Optionally allows specifying 'maxError' for reprojection tolerance and 'proj' for the operation's projection.

  • If 'proj' is not specified, the operation is performed in a spherical coordinate system with linear distances in meters.

 Returns the result of subtracting the 'right' geometry from the 'left' geometry.

UsageReturns
Rectangle.difference(right, maxError, proj)Geometry
ArgumentTypeDetails
this: leftGeometryThe geometry used as the left operand of the operation.
rightGeometryThe geometry used as the right operand of the operation.
maxErrorErrorMargin, default: nullThe maximum amount of error tolerated when performing any necessary reprojection.
projProjection, default: nullThe projection in which to perform the operation. If not specified, the operation will be performed in a spherical coordinate system, and linear distances will be in meters on the sphere.

Examples

Code Editor (JavaScript)

// Define a Rectangle object.
var rectangle = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(-122.09, 37.42, -122.08, 37.43);

// Define other inputs.
var inputGeom = ee.Geometry.BBox(-122.085, 37.415, -122.075, 37.425);

// Apply the difference method to the Rectangle object.
var rectangleDifference = rectangle.difference({'right': inputGeom, 'maxError': 1});

// Print the result to the console.
print('rectangle.difference(...) =', rectangleDifference);

// Display relevant geometries on the map.
Map.setCenter(-122.085, 37.422, 15);
Map.addLayer(rectangle,
             {'color': 'black'},
             'Geometry [black]: rectangle');
Map.addLayer(inputGeom,
             {'color': 'blue'},
             'Parameter [blue]: inputGeom');
Map.addLayer(rectangleDifference,
             {'color': 'red'},
             'Result [red]: rectangle.difference');

Python setup

See the Python Environment page for information on the Python API and using geemap for interactive development.

import ee
import geemap.core as geemap

Colab (Python)

# Define a Rectangle object.
rectangle = ee.Geometry.Rectangle(-122.09, 37.42, -122.08, 37.43)

# Define other inputs.
input_geom = ee.Geometry.BBox(-122.085, 37.415, -122.075, 37.425)

# Apply the difference method to the Rectangle object.
rectangle_difference = rectangle.difference(right=input_geom, maxError=1)

# Print the result.
display('rectangle.difference(...) =', rectangle_difference)

# Display relevant geometries on the map.
m = geemap.Map()
m.set_center(-122.085, 37.422, 15)
m.add_layer(rectangle, {'color': 'black'}, 'Geometry [black]: rectangle')
m.add_layer(input_geom, {'color': 'blue'}, 'Parameter [blue]: input_geom')
m.add_layer(
    rectangle_difference, {'color': 'red'}, 'Result [red]: rectangle.difference'
)
m