ee.ImageCollection.linkCollection

AI-generated Key Takeaways

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• The linkCollection function connects images in one collection to matching images in another based on shared metadata.

• It adds or updates bands and metadata in the first collection using information from matching images in the second collection.

• Matching images are identified by a specified metadata property, with "system:index" as the default.

• Unmatched images will have masked bands and null metadata for newly added or updated properties.

• This function simplifies linking images derived from the same source but with different processing applied.

For each source image in this collection, any specified bands or metadata will be added to the source image from the matching image found in

imageCollection. If bands or metadata are already present, they will be overwritten. If matching images are not found, any new or updated bands will be fully masked and any new or updated metadata will be null. The output footprint will be the same as the source image footprint.

Matches are determined if a source image and an image in imageCollection have a specific equivalent metadata property. If more than one collection image would match, the collection image selected is arbitrary. By default, images are matched on their 'system:index' metadata property.

This linking function is a convenience method for adding bands to target images based on a specified shared metadata property and is intended to support linking collections that apply different processing/product generation to the same source imagery. For more expressive linking known as

'joining', see https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/joins_intro.

Returns the linked image collection.