EO Browser Updates — Summer 2023
New Data Collections, Planet SkySat and Geocento EarthImages Support, 3D Timelapse, Pixel Identifier, Spectral Explorer, Elevation Profile and much more…
With the summer season just around the corner, we bring you our traditional roundup of all the exciting updates and improvements that have been made to EO Browser since our last summer blog post.
1. Multi-Language Support
As EO Browser has established itself as one of the leading tools for teaching, exploring and learning about our planet using EO data, the number of languages has also grown with great help from geography teachers, professors, remote sensing experts and EO enthusiasts.
Since last summer, we have welcomed two new members to our language family — Portuguese and Ukrainian! Now you can explore the available satellite data in 14 different languages.
If your native language isn’t yet supported and you’d like to contribute, follow this link to learn more about how you can get involved and help us spread the word about EO Browser even further!
2. New Datasets: Harmonized Landsat Sentinel, Expanded Copernicus Services Collections
The world of satellite data is expanding faster than ever! We’ve added several new collections to EO Browser, so you can explore even more data seamlessly.
Explore global data from April 2013, updated every 2–3 days, with this great collection at 30-metre resolution, often used to monitor changes in vegetation, land use and land cover over time.
10m Annual Land Use Land Cover Map
The Annual Land Use Land Cover (LULC) Map is derived from Sentinel-2 imagery at 10-metre resolution and global coverage, showing 9 Land Use Land Cover classes for the period 2017–2021.
High Resolution Snow and Ice Monitoring collections
This product describes the state of snow in near real time, extracted from high-resolution spatial observations from the Sentinel-1 (radar) and Sentinel-2 (optical) constellations and is providing data annually since September 2016.
- Persistent Snow Area provides access to persistent snow cover during a particular hydrological year with a spatial resolution of 20 metres.
- Wet/Dry Snow provides a binary distinction between wet and dry snow and identifies patchy snow or snow-free areas with a spatial resolution of 60 metres.
- SAR Wet Snow provides binary information on the wet snow extent and the snow-free, patchy snow or dry snow extent in high mountain areas with a spatial resolution of 60 metres.
- Fractional Snow Cover shows the snow-covered surface at the top of canopy and on ground with a spatial resolution of 20–60 metres.
- Fractional Snow Cover (Gap-filled) shows the snow-covered surface with reduced observation gaps due to clouds and lack of sensor coverage on a daily basis, supplemented by spatial and temporal gap-filling, with a spatial resolution of 20–60 metres.
Discover all collections available through Sentinel Hub in our public collections registry.
3. Third Party Data Import
As you may already know, you can search, order and visualise commercial high-resolution data directly in EO Browser. To get started, watch our demonstration video to learn how to order all the commercial data in our offer or read our step-by-step PDF guide.
Since last summer, there have been some updates regarding commercial data ordering:
Planet SkySat
You can now purchase, order and access SkySat archive data through Sentinel Hub. The highlights of SkySat data:
- The ability to image an area of interest up to 10 times per day
- 0.5–0.9 m pixel size (resampled to 0.5 m)
- Blue, Green, Red, Near Infrared, and Panchromatic bands
See our documentation for more details!
Geocento EarthImages
We have partnered with Geocento to provide Sentinel Hub customers with seamless and flexible access to an extensive range of commercial imagery, provided by EarthImages.
With EarthImages, Geocento’s data explorer, you can now easily get data collections that weren’t previously supported by Sentinel Hub. These collections can be integrated into our services as Third-Party Data Imports for further interactive exploration. Get started with our simple step-by-step guide and try it out in EO Browser.
4. 3D Timelapse
Building on the success of last year’s 2D Timelapse feature, this year we are going one step further and introducing the Timelapse in 3D! You can now create captivating timelapses with added depth and dimension, showing the dynamic nature of our planet in a whole new way.
Tip: Find the best locations and settings in 2D and then move on to the more complex 3D!
5. Remote Sensing Data Inspection Tools
Our latest tools, Pixel Identifier and Spectral Explorer, open up a new level of precision and analysis in EO Browser. Whether you just want to compare spectral signatures or quantify differences between visually similar pixels, these tools come in handy for our advanced users or researchers.
Pixel Identifier
Although EO Browser is geared towards data visualisation, we understand that advanced users often prioritise the pixel value over coloured visuals. With the Pixel Identifier, you can accurately quantify the underlying index values of pixels with a simple click, taking the guesswork out of comparing visually similar pixels.
Spectral Explorer
Sometimes, a simple RGB visualisation isn’t enough to identify what exactly a pixel (or group of pixels) represents. That’s why we’ve developed this powerful tool that lets you plot values across all bands and explore reflectance values across different wavelengths. With Spectral Explorer, you can now compare the spectral signature of a selected pixel (or group of pixels) with other known signatures and understand the underlying chemical composition to identify objects that may not be visible by visual means alone. You can use the tab values to directly compare the values across the different bands.
6. Image Download Improvements
EO Browser aims to allow users to choose the most suitable options for their particular use-case when it comes to downloading images. Therefore, we have introduced two new options for the Basic image download:
- Crop to AOI — This feature allows you to crop your image to the boundaries of the area of interest
- Draw AOI Geometry on Image — This feature allows you to draw the geometry of the area of interest on the exported image.
We have also added the Custom Resolution option to the Analytical image download. You can now manually set the desired resolution and download an image in a newly added coordinate reference system (CRS)— Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). For example, you can now download the Sentinel data in its original CRS and resolution.
7. EO Browser in Education
Inspired by positive feedback from teachers and students regarding the educational benefits of EO Browser, we have put quite some effort into improving EO Browser so that students can better explore the wonders of our planet through satellite imagery.
Firstly, we have improved the visibility of the Education mode button so that it’s more prominent and therefore more noticeable to users.
To make the EO Browser Themes more usable for schools, we have added new visualisation highlights and enriched them with timelapses spread across all themes. Choose your favourite theme and find the links to the timelapses in the highlight descriptions. Check it out in EO Browser!
EO Browser Tutorials
Due to the growing interest in learning about EO Browser in a visual way, we have introduced the EO Browser Tutorials series, which focuses on the various educational aspects of the app. These tutorials are designed to help students understand the full potential of EO Browser, giving them the opportunity to explore its features and learn how to use different tools through real-life use cases.
The first tutorial in our five-part series of EO Browser Tutorials gives an overview of the main features of EO Browser, focusing on the Education Mode and its interesting themes, while the second tutorial shows how to discover, visualise, pin and share data.
Stay tuned for more informative tutorials in the coming weeks as we dive deeper into the world of Earth Observation and check out the EO Browser Tutorial YouTube Playlist.
Highlights of the Month
We have introduced a new monthly series — EO Browser Highlights of the Month! Each month, we’ll present you a new highlight on a currently trending topic with the aim to bring you closer to the world’s most pressing problems and breathtaking natural wonders — all with the help of satellite imagery.
The first highlight in the series of Highlights of the Month focuses on the major flooding and landslide events in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May 2023.
Stay tuned for more exciting and informative highlights in the coming months and check out the Highlights of the Month Youtube Playlist.
8. Elevation Profile
EO Browser can now also help you track altitude changes along a defined line and create an Elevation Profile from Point A to Point B. Whether for outdoor enthusiasts, engineers, farmers or researchers, this multi-purpose tool definitely provides valuable insights into terrain analysis.
9. Other Improvements
New Map Overlays
Map overlays are another valuable resource of EO Browser, providing our users with a wide range of additional data to analyse in order to gain deeper insights into the satellite data on the map. That’s why we’ve added two new options to the existing list:
- The Contour overlay complements the Elevation Profile tool and allows you to visualise elevations and topographic features directly on the map. By displaying contour lines, it becomes easier to understand the characteristics of the terrain.
- The Water Bodies overlay lets you easily identify lakes, rivers, reservoirs and other bodies of water. It supports a variety of applications, such as water studies or emergency management.
Share in Compare
Whether for research, teaching or just to share the changes on multiple satellite images with your friends and colleagues by simply sending them a link, the Share option is a great addition to EO Browser’s Compare Mode.
Multiple AOI
The drawing functionality has been updated to support not only uploading multiple polygons but also drawing multiple polygons.
Custom Visualisation Improvements
It‘s never been easier to create a custom visualisation yourself. We have restructured the Custom visualisation window so that all three options — Composite, Index and Custom script — are always visible.
Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
You may have heard of the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, a new platform that provides instant and free access to a wide range of open and free EO data from the Copernicus Sentinel missions and others.
Copernicus Browser, developed as part of platform, is a user-friendly, intuitive and free application that enables faster data visualisation and full product download. As an evolution of EO Browser, it contains most of the well-known features of EO Browser with missing features to be added soon.
Stay tuned and try out Copernicus Browser for yourself!
Updated on 7 August 2024:
Also read our step-by-step guide for Copernicus Browser — especially recommended for those who have been using EO Browser and want to continue with a free, public tool.
