Earth Observation Data Hub

The EODH is a UK Pathfinder project delivering access to Earth Observation data for effective decision making across government, business and academia, supported by key stakeholders UKRI NERC, DSIT and UKSA.

The project brings together a strong team of partners from across the public sector. Lead by National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), specifically with members situated within the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) and the University of Leicester, the EODH project team provide oversight and management of a consortium of experts from across research and the commercial sector, including National Physical Laboratory, Met Office and Satellite Applications Catapult.

The overall goal of the project is to develop and operate a new centralised software infrastructure – DataHub – to provide a new ‘single point’ of access for UK EO data offerings from distributed public and commercial centres. By providing a single point, the objective is to provide a standard common set of services and APIs upon which new EO services and tools can be developed and accessed by the UK EO data community. This pathfinder project will bring new thinking and experimental developments that will result in practical services for users in a short period of time.

By the end of the project, we expect to have a community of researchers, industry and government working together to provide earth observation data in new and innovative ways. The scope of the project covers all Earth Observation data for the UK. Users of the Hub will be able to explore areas of interest in the UK and across the globe, harnessing space derived data to develop an improved understanding of our environment and create insights to support commercial and government decision-making. In the initial phase, the Hub will additionally provide service interfaces to particular climate and land applications. It will also enable selected users to support their own analyses, services and tools using the Hub’s workflow and compute environments.

The Hub Platform provides a software toolkit to facilitate the development of applications to exploit EO Data.​ The platform integrates multiple data sources.​ It provides tools to transform and store data in analysis-ready formats.​ It provides the ability for users to integrate their own workflows. It will provide quality information to help users judge fitness of purpose for a given application. The Hub capabilities will facilitate:

Time critical Sentinel processing

Generate time-critical environmental analyses for monitoring systems by actioning workflows in real time as new image acquisitions arrive
Sharing new analysis

Carry out novel research, derive insights, and publish outputs, assisted by the capabilities and datasets provided by the hub, through developing EO workflows
Enabling commercial applications

Utilise the provision of satellite imagery and modelled EO products to power custom web applications to serve user needs, from climate risk alerts to site monitoring
Pay per use commercial data

Supply commercial satellite datasets to a broad end user community by hosting on the Hub

The Hub is suitable for a range of user types and roles across the government, academic and commercial disciplines. Data access can support operational government needs, as well as provide EO insights to inform policy, supporting the ability to build custom dashboard applications powered by the Hub. The Hub provides quality-assured data access for academic researchers and students, acting as a central teaching resource suitable for beginners in UK EO data processing, as well as technically advanced users. There are opportunities for commercial users to supply EO datasets to enhance the Resource Catalogue, or utilise existing imagery as part of operations and reporting.

Data search and browse can be carried out through the Resource Catalogue interface, within QGIS, and programmatically through our Python API client, pyeodh.

For GIS data analysis, you will be able to interact using the EODH plugin to pull data directly into QGIS, or utilise services to integrate with other GIS software.

Proficient programmers can point Python notebooks to run through the AppHub, a dedicated JupyterHub on the EODH, to use pyeodh or other Python libraries.

Software developers can connect to the Hub via the dedicated APIs, either directly or through pyeodh, to link in directly with the Hub. Custom-built applications, developed as part of the wider project, and powered by the Hub, are an example of how this can enhance tailored data insights.

Dev-Ops, and other advanced programmers, can generate workflows in CWL using the eoap-gen library, which are compatible to run on the Hub. This is a scalable solution to processing large quantities of EO data, from input to desired output.

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the Department of Science Innovation and Technology Earth Observation Investment programme act as the key funding body. £9.93 million was awarded to the lead organisation: National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO).
The project will run from February 2023 to March 2025 as a Pathfinder, with applications for extension of project funding ongoing.