CANBERRA — Open data cubes are designed to make freely available satellite data accessible to a wide audience by providing scientists, policymakers, small business, and more, with access to data tools and analysis platforms.
Work on the “most ambitious and important data cube implementation globally” began to scale up in August as the Digital Earth Africa project gathered technical advisors in Nairobi to consolidate feedback that will support its work program and product roadmap.
DE Africa, an open data cube designed for the continent of Africa, has lofty goals. It aims to be the world's largest operational platform for accessing and analyzing decades of satellite imagery for African land and ocean territories. Data available freely from Earth observation satellites will be translated into a range of products allowing ready-to-use insights informing governments, NGOs, businesses, and more, to make informed decisions about environmental conditions, water quality, and changes in human settlements.