UrbanTEP ( https://urban-tep.eu ) provides data and services for sustainable urban development. It started as an ESA project back in 2015. It was conducted by a consortium led by DLR, and with a team of public and private experts from the European Earth Observation (EO) sector.
By end 2023, UrbanTEP transitioned to a new phase of sustainability, with Terradue being handed-over the management of the business operations.
The UrbanTEP approach for sustainability is based on the following principles:
- The hosted EO services on UrbanTEP are provided either on a pay per use basis or via subscription. These services encompass on-demand and systematic generation and delivery of Value Added products, as well as the ability for expert users to integrate customized EO services.
- The service production cost is based on tailored components including the cost for EO data (especially when licensed, commercial data are used), for the cloud processing resources, for the support from Value Added service owners (including license fees when relevant) and the cost for the Platform operations.
- The primary focus is on open and free EO missions data such as the Copernicus Sentinel, complemented by commercial High Resolution Optical & Radar missions and derived products relevant to the Urban management community;
- The deployment of processing services relies on several Copernicus and ICT providers, in a constant search for the optimization of the overall costs;
- The delivery of such hosted EO services is based on a publicly available price list, and user organisations can directly purchase these services or seek collaborations with entities able to align resources to bear service production costs. Collaborations include ESA NoR sponsorship.
This transition is accompanied by the ESA Network of Resources (NoR) initiative with a marketplace providing a new way for accessing commercial EO services. The ESA NoR therefore provides a privileged channel for the UrbanTEP services subscribers to renew their subscriptions, or for newcomers to engage with the UrbanTEP offer.
UrbanTEP users can now seek for get sponsored access, or even can directly purchase a subscription, to a set of UrbanTEP services through the NoR marketplace.
How to apply for ESA NoR sponsored access
Applicants interested with getting NoR vouchers for their UrbanTEP user account are kindly requested to take in consideration the NoR sponsorship eligibility rules here:
Information is provided on that page about the eligibility for awarding of vouchers, the rules for priority in awarding of vouchers, and the commitment and deliverables required from successful applicants.
As a candidate to NoR sponsorship for accessing the UrbanTEP services, you will get initial support from Terradue and GISAT for your choice of the offering matching your needs. The UrbanTEP offer is regularly evolving, and currently spans through:
- City Data Cube service: dedicated data cube for the area of a city and its surrounding with a number of thematic variables and a certain temporal extent.
- City Data Cube VISAT services: single, basic or enhanced packages, along with branding/customization options.
- Data Analytics: dedicated Web applications for visualisation and analysis.
- Algorithm hosting: dedicated workspaces to host a packaged algorithm to be delivered as a service for online access by users (Software as a Service, or SaaS mode).
- Data hosting: EO data collections hosting (delivered according to FAIR data principles) and Cloud-optimised EO data collections hosting (for high performance visualisation and processing).
- Support to Algorithm Integration: Expert guidance for the parallelisation strategy, tools and libraries, data requirements, and production plan in accordance with the OGC Best Practice for EO Application Package.
The NoR marketplace page for UrbanTEP also features a number of Setup Fees associated with some aspects of the offering.
New perspectives
Thanks to the ESA NoR initiative, Terradue is moving UrbanTEP forward, by ensuring that its service delivery process becomes ever more sustainable. This will contribute to accelerate the achievement of scientific goals and the sharing of the results, and will support analysts in engaging the digital information market quicker and in an easier way.