Earth observations in the era of big data and cloud computing: Join the first-ever GEO Data and Knowledge Week in Beijing, China

News / 28 November 2019

Big data and cloud computing services provide new possibilities for the open science community to host, share and process large amounts of open Earth observation (EO) data.

New technologies, including mobile applications and cloud-based processing, are already making EO more accessible to researchers in their communities. Additionally, advances in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are poised to make Earth science data and knowledge even more openly accessible.

Next year, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is heading to Beijing, China for the inaugural GEO Data and Knowledge Week from 17-22 February, 2020.

Hosted by the China GEO Secretariat, the event will explore technological advancements that are supporting open and reproducible knowledge. GEO invites the global Earth observation community to join us for a week-long event to explore leveraging these new technologies in order to advance Earth observations data and knowledge. Registration will be open until the end of December here.

“It is the very first time to have two important GEO data related events together, the GEO Data Providers Workshop and GEO Data Technology Workshop. It is our great honour to host the first GEO Data and Knowledge Week 2020 in China,” said Mr. Pengde Li, China GEO Principal.

The event especially aims at engaging EO users from the public and private sectors, and supporting open science approaches that produce end-to-end reproducible solutions. It will be an opportunity for the community to share good practices in accordance with GEOSS Data Sharing and Data Management Principles.

"The GEO Data and Knowledge Week is evolving to both meet the requirements of the GEO community for Earth observations data and to help the community leverage new developments in technology,” explained Douglas Cripe, Senior Scientific Adviser at the GEO Secretariat. “In particular, we want to better understand the big data needs of GEO Work Programme activities as they develop applications of Earth observations to address societal challenges, and then use the GEOSS infrastructure to scale up and apply knowledge gained in an open science environment."

During GEO Week 2019 earlier this month, China was designated as GEO’s Lead Co-chair for 2020. This means China will be leading the GEO Executive Committee for the next 12 months. China has unveiled a series of events to be held at GEO Data Week along with offsite tours at leading tech organizations, among other possibilities. Read the full agenda online.

“The GEO Data and Knowledge Week will include China GEO day, a full programme of workshops, training sessions, EO site tours, and more. Because it is also the first time for GEO data related events going into the Asia Oceania region, we hope it will be a great platform for the GEO community to exchange experiences and sparks of thought with Chinese and also Asia Oceania experts,” explained Mr. Li.

 “GEO is leading the world to promote data sharing to the level of knowledge sharing. In this era, hosted by China GEO, several departments, including the National Remote Sensing Center of China and the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will work together as we focus on open data and ways to ensure that available Earth observation data and knowledge can support international policy frameworks...” said Mr. Li.

Join us in Beijing to explore technological advancements that are supporting open and reproducible knowledge. Registration is open now until the end of December. Register here.