The Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) has been appointed as the interim host for the pan-African Digital Earth Africa Programme Management Office.
A free platform providing satellite imagery and products specific to the African continent – and the world’s largest operator of the open data cube (ODC) infrastructure – Digital Earth Africa is used extensively by stakeholders throughout Africa.
Alison Rose, Chief of the Space Division at Geoscience Australia and co-chair of the Digital Earth Africa Governing Board, says that Digital Earth Africa has seen strong uptake on the continent, with African governments actively engaging with the platform, as well as numerous academic institutions incorporating the data into their curricula.
Funded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Australian Government, Digital Earth Africa is on track to improve the lives of African people and support decision makers across the continent assess, plan, and protect their countries from the potential impacts of climate change.
Digital Earth Africa draws on more than three decades of satellite imagery to address critical challenges facing the African continent.
By packaging Earth observation (EO) data into accessible and free data sets, African governments, researcher bodies, industry players and decision-makers can track changes across the continent in unprecedented detail. This enables better decision making across areas that include flooding, drought, soil and coastal erosion, agriculture, forest cover, land use and land cover change, water availability and quality, and changes to human settlements.
The Digital Earth Africa platform is based on the ODC infrastructure, which is an open-source solution supported by six institutional partners: Geoscience Australia, NASA / Committee on Earth Observations (CEOS), United States Geological Survey (USGS), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Catapult Satellite Applications and Analytical Mechanics Associates (AMA). The infrastructure enables the access, management and analysis of large quantities of geographic information system (GIS) data – namely EO data.
Initially modelled on Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth Australia platform, Digital Earth Africa has been designed to catalogue and allow the scalable processing of the stored data on a continental scale, while still allowing Geoscience Australia to provide technical and operational expertise.
Usage among the private sector is also extremely positive. Rose says, “We are excited for this new chapter. Ensuring that the program is African owned and led is a key principle of Digital Earth Africa’s mission, enabling the platform to be responsive to the information needs, challenges and priorities of the African continent.”
RIIS, Africa’s largest innovation-focused advisory firm, has significant expertise in the space sector, particularly in growing the continent’s emerging space innovation ecosystem through the implementation of capacity-building programmes, working with space agencies in building innovation roadmaps and strategic policy documents, and supporting the establishment of global space programmes on the continent.
CEO at RIIS, Davis Cook says, “The Africa Earth Observation Challenge in particular, which is a continental wide space-tech start-up competition managed by RIIS, provides further opportunities to drive uptake of the Digital Earth Africa platform.”
Cook says that it is critical to develop Africa’s use of – and capabilities in – space-based tools and technologies. “EO data is increasingly being used by both the public and private sectors across the globe to solve social and environmental challenges, mitigate risks and aid economic growth. To date, research indicates that 18 percent of satellites orbiting the earth are dedicated EO satellites. Over the past decade we’ve witnessed a 71 percent increase in EO satellites, and the EO data industry itself is pushing the USD 8 billion mark. This signifies the growing importance of incorporating EO data into decision making for better and sustainable futures. In providing free access to EO data and derivative products Digital Earth Africa breaks down barriers to participation and is a key enabler towards Africans actively participating in this new space economy.”