CANBERRA — After calling for private sector solutions to support cloud-based processing of Earth observation data, the Group on Earth Observations announced a new partnership with Google at GEO Week in Canberra: 25 projects with licenses for Google Earth Engine over the next two years — worth $3 million — for any GEO member state or participating organization.
Google Earth Engine provides access to open EO data over time — and algorithms to support the rapid computation of images to convert them into meaningful data to support decision-making.
For GEO member countries and participating organizations, the challenge has been the ability to manage the massive amounts of EO data and computational power required to produce data that is meaningful to policymakers — a challenge Rebecca Moore, director of Google Earth Outreach, told Devex may be heightened in low- and middle-income countries.