Earth observation-based service platforms - a new instrument to provide geo-information for urban and regional planning

This paper introduces concepts for the utilization of modern information technology functionalities, bundled in form of dedicated service platforms, to bridge the gap between the technology-driven EO sector and the information needs of environmental science, planning, and policy. Thereby the intended service platforms generally aim at opening up new opportunities by systematically exploring: unique EO capabilities in Europe; Big Data perspective; high-level IT-infrastructures; massive processing power; vast expert knowledge; new media and ways of communication; and increasing connectivity and networks. Key components of such systems are currently developed and tested in the projects OPUS-GMES (Operational Platform for the Provision and Processing of Sentinel Data in Support of Copernicus Geo-Information Services) and TEP Urban (Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform), both coordinated by DLR. The two projects include the implementation of an open, web-based platform employing distributed high-level computing infrastructures (Platform as a Service - PaaS) as well as providing key functionalities for i) high-performance access to thematic data (Information as a Service - InaaS), ii) modular and generic state-of-the art pre-processing, analysis, and visualization (Software as a Service - SaaS), iii) customized development and dissemination of algorithms, products and services, and iv) networking and communication.