The Copernicus Programme, with over 12 TB of Earth Observation (EO) data generated daily, is the third largest data provider globally. Copernicus full, free and open data policy allows anyone anywhere in the world to access and use the data and information. However, there is another community that often provides an important link to these vast amounts of data and the end user by providing tools, plug-ins and libraries to handle the data and make it easier for the end users to use it – this community is organised under the umbrella of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
The Open Data Instituts defines good open data as follows:
- It can be linked to for easy sharing
- It is available in a standard, structured format
- It has guaranteed availability and consistency over time
- It is traceable to its sources
These are the guidelines that we follow for Copernicus data and information. We are constantly striving to make the data easier to access, simpler to share, and more relevant to support your research or solve your business problem with EO. The upcoming Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (to be operational in mid-2018) will represent a considerable leap forward in this mission.
Find out more about more about the community, accessing Copernicus Sentinel data, creating maps, processing Sentinel images, visualising data and information, etc. here.
