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EarthCache Integrations

Katrina McLean
  • Updated

Why Integrate with EarthCache

The EarthCache platform provides easy and efficient direct access to many different Satellite providers and constellations. Many use cases are served by using the EarthCache console that SkyWatch has built for ordering, however you may want to consider an integration if you meet the following criteria.

 

1) You are ordering a large volume of imagery

2) You want to enable your own customer base to order imagery through your application

 

These two use cases have very different considerations. The first example solves for the pain point of manual data ordering and downloading and is often served by scripting. The second example requires a more robust integration with your application where end-customer costing, authentication and data management must be considered.

 

Types of Integrations

 

Integrations for large volume ordering and consumption

Before you consider scripting a solution for large volume ordering it is highly recommended that you utilize the EarthCache UI until the manual effort around order volume starts to be detrimental. This will provide proof of value and make sure that you understand the data and platform.

 

You can break the EarthCache platform into a few main workflows.

 

1) Ordering Imagery

  • Archive Imagery
  • Tasked Imagery

2) Order Management

  • Check if order is complete (scheduled script or webhook server)
  • Check if results were returned

3) Imagery Delivery

  • Download Preview (Visual PNG)
  • Download Analytical GeoTiff
  • Download MetaData
  • Download Cloud Masks

The first step on this automation path is to determine which of the three above workflows you need to automate, and which sub-workflows are relevant.

 

Integrations for end user applications

The same considerations exist as for large volume ordering and consumption, however it is recommended that much more design and feature planning go into an end user application. 

Note that this considerations may be less relevant if the application is not being accessed by the end user.

 

Additional Considerations include:

1) End-User Authentication

2) Payment Structure

3) Customer Data management

4) Order Dashboard and Download Access

 

Recommended POC

Much of the complexity exists around order submission and what is laid out in additional requirements. Due to this, a basic POC is suggested as a first step which meets the below requirements.

1) The partner end-users hold their own SkyWatch Accounts and therefore payments. This is feasible due to our new Self Serve Structure but will require an API Key linking step for use in order retrieval through the integration.

2) The integrating application redirects customers to EarthCache to place orders, but then does order management within their own dashboards.

 

Additional Requirements

The EarthCache platform has specific requirements to consume your AOIs. The API will return errors if your AOIs do not meet these requirements, however if you are submitting more than one order at a time (common for monitoring) it is highly recommended that you catch and/or fix these issues prior to attempting submission.

Geometry

Geometry limitations are encountered on the upload of the AOI for ordering. Most of these issues involve data types, projections and geometry validity. 

  1. Single Feature -  The data type can be multipolygon or polygon, but this must when exploded only contain a single feature. If it is multi-feature it will be rejected
  2. Validity - The geometry must be valid with no self intersections or open geometries.
  3. Donuts/Interior Coordinates - Only geometries with exterior coordinates are accepted.
  4. Format - KML and geojson files are accepted. Shapefiles are not accepted at this time. KML files can be finicky based on layers and how they were written so standard format geojsons are recommended
  5. Projection - Only WGS1984 (EPSG:4623) is accepted
  6. Vertices - We have a limitation of 500 vertices on the platform. 
    1. Simplification - anything between 200-500 vertices gets simplified to 200 vertices to meet all of our providers requirements.

Area

  1. Search - All searches are limited to 100,000km2. 
  2. Low Resolution - Order limited to max 1000km2, minimum order of 1km2 and geometry has to truly be 1km2 (not a min charge, actually an area limitation) 
  3. Medium Resolution - Order limited to max 500km2, minimum is 5km2
  4. High Resolution - Order limited to 50km2 - there may be some caveats on this that we can exploit. If not mosaicking - this is actually 100km2, if it’s mosaicked it’s 50km2. Can submit any area, but minimum charge is for 1km2.
  5. Very High Resolution - max is 150km2. Min is 1km2 and geometry has to truly be 1km2 (not a min charge, actually an area limitation) 
  6. HRes Tasking - All taskings have a minimum order size of 25km2 (max 50km2). Customers can submit smaller areas but should be warned of this minimum. The minimum width is 2km across.
  7. VHRes Tasking - All taskings have a minimum order size of 25km2 (max 150km2). If the AOI is > 25km in any direction it may take additional time to submit. The minimum width is 5km across.

 

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