Join Urban Growth in Africa Contest
The deadline is extended until September 5, 2021!
Tools like Sentinel Hub EO Browser with its custom scripting, allow anyone to browse, analyse, and visualise satellite data in near real-time. To demonstrate the availability of the free tools and the ease of their use, we have initiated a series of Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contests, starting with the first contest in Spring 2019. The deadline for our special edition currently running— Urban Growth in Africa —has been extended to September 5, 2021. With our partners, the Euro Data Cube (EDC), the Copernicus EU Earth Observation programme and the European Space Agency, we therefore invite you to take part.
Why Participate
Africa is projected to have the fastest urban growth rate in the world. According to West African Studies, an additional 950 million people will live in Africa’s cities by 2050. This urbanisation presents many opportunities, but also poses major challenges and creates development and environmental problems. Understanding urbanisation, its drivers, dynamics and impacts is essential for designing appropriate policies at different levels. Remote sensing plays a very important role in this case.
The contest itself provides a unique opportunity to explore the possibilities of freely available tools to find solutions and even shape the policies mentioned above. Everyone can share their knowledge and contribute valuable ideas and scripts to the remote sensing community. Together we can empower others to find solutions to various environmental problems and even contribute to a better future for our planet.
Besides using great tools, you can also win some cool prizes that can be used for further exploitation and even developing new business opportunities. Participate in the contest and get access to Sentinel Hub services, the Euro Data Cube (EDC) processing environment and high-resolution commercial data.
Use High-Resolution Commercial Data
With this edition we aim to demonstrate the power of a deep multi-temporal and multi-resolution data cube combined from Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat. The area we are looking at is Africa. To spice it up, we have chosen Dakar, Senegal, and loaded it with high-resolution commercial data such as Airbus Pleiades and SPOT, Maxar WorldView/GeoEye, provided by European Space imaging, and PlanetScope.
Read more about the available data collections and our offering in Urban Growth in Africa contest here. Join to explore the depth and detail of commercial data and dense time series over a long period of time available for one location.
You can participate in three different ways, either create a custom script, write a story based on Earth observation (EO) data or/and create a pin story in EO Browser. The goal is to show an interesting event related to Urban Growth in Africa, such as land cover changes through time.
Create a Custom Script
Create your own custom script to enroll for a money prize and annual subscription to Sentinel Hub. You can also win a nice budget of commercial data (Airbus Pleiades and SPOT).
If you are new to scripting, check out this friendly Custom Script Tutorial, which will guide you through the first steps and help you create simple custom scripts. Your custom script can be as simple as this aesthetic Sentinel-1 composite, which was created to display buildings in bright red and cyan colors (image below).
You can submit up to three different custom scripts. More about the requirements is available here.
On our web page with custom script documentation, you will find all the relevant links to help you get started. See also some further instructions on how to create a script in EO Browser, read our blog post to learn more about the concept behind scripts, and visit our custom script repository with a variety of script examples.
Did you know that you can create a custom script with your colleagues, friends, co-workers, fellow students, etc. and submit it as a group to the contest?
Of course you can also create more complex scripts, including various indices, algorithms, multi-temporal scripts or data fusion. Like the following data fusion script (image below) showcasing historic NDVI changes using two Landsat collections to compare earlier and more recent imagery. Vegetation changes it displays in violet and green can help us determine, among other things, where urban or agricultural expansion happened.
For more information on custom scripts, watch our webinars on Custom Scripts and Multi-Temporal Scripts and Data Fusion.
You can also enter the contest without any programming knowledge by writing a matching story or creating a pin story in EO Browser.
Create a Pin Story
In addition, another special prize will be awarded for the best pin story, which is really easy to make and doesn’t require any coding. All you need is to find an interesting story to tell! Pin stories can be simply made in EO Browser, or combined with custom editing, i.e. combining several pin stories (locations), and can include premade visualizations from various collections, custom scripts, and other material. We especially encourage newbies and students to give it a try and submit their stories.
You can create your pin stories directly in EO Browser that features a Pin Story Builder tool. To get started, visit the EO Browser web page and watch the EO Browser webinar, which walks you through the pin basics and pin stories. Here’s also a detailed user guide for making pin stories!
You do not need an account to create a pin story. However, we recommend that you create an EO Browser account, which will allow you to save your pins and access all the features available in EO Browser. Simply click on the login button and proceed with a registration. If you would also like to include high-resolution commercial data in your pin story, you will need a Sentinel Hub account. Follow the instructions in our Pin Story guide that outlines the steps to register, get more data, create/export your pins, create a pin story and submit it.
Write a Story based on EO data
A special prize will be awarded to the best written story (e.g. paper, article, blog post) that makes use of EO data. If you are a journalist or not, if your story was published or not — submit it here.
How to Participate
To participate in the contest, you need to register by filling out the registration form. Completion of the form is mandatory for all who would like to submit their custom scripts or pin stories. You also need to register if you intend to write a story based on EO data and you would need access to commercial data collections for either your script, pin story or your written story. Read more about how to get started here.
The registration form will ask you to provide your email address, which is linked to your existing Sentinel Hub account. If you do not already have one, create a free 30-day trial account here. You will also need to create an account if you only want to create a pin story but also want to use high-resolution data collections. See our Pin Story guide for details.
To get access to Euro Data Cube tools and run the prepared Jupyter Notebook describing the steps to access all provided data, including basic processing examples, you will also need an EDC account. If you don’t have one yet, do create a free trial account here.
After you register, we will contact you by email with further information on how to proceed. We will also extend your trial account for the duration of the contest.
Make Your Impact Count
As an important part of the remote sensing community, Sentinel Hub is increasingly recognised as a collection of the right tools to make a difference. As a “placeholder” and starting point when you need satellite data for further analysis, it helps everyone on our planet better understand our beautiful home. Using satellite data helps us become more aware of our environment and the impact we have as individuals.
Join the contest and make your impact count!
