One Data Format/pattern to Rule Them All

In the last few years a major revolution is taking place, named Cloud Optimized GeoTiff, the best data format for everyone working with EO data. Well, for everyone except for those who claim the same for HDF. Or for zarr. Some would even bet on JP2000.

In reality though most of these are just fine, each fitting specific needs. There is no need to choose one and only format as the processing software can be easily adjusted for each of these. There are however some important underlying patterns, which make or break the efficient exploitation in the cloud.

Sinergise is the operator of Sentinel Hub, a satellite data processing service, and responsible for replication of Sentinel data to AWS. We will share our experience, the good, the bad and the ugly, with several EO datasets employing various formats and used for different needs, with an objective in mind to push the debate about best data format to the next level – how can we best make use of all these data.

This presentation was given in July 2019 at the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Summer Meeting held in Tacoma, Washington.