E-COMMERCE PLATFORM FOR MICRO-GEOSERVICES (Store4EO)

Innovative approaches to distribute services to both public and private markets, being more automated and interoperable, are expected to support EO companies in getting the best return on investment.

Micro geo-services based on the use of satellite data, delivering very focused earth measurements (e.g. burnt area map/index, NDVI, land use, etc..), address potentially a wide audience, available to pay only a small amount, typically ordering products for a few tens of Euros, for their geo-temporal area ofinterest. Given the rather limited revenue margin, it is essential that scalable data storage and processing environments (e.g. on the cloud), but also e-commerce platform capabilities can be shared across value adding providers. In particular, the EO value adding sector is characterised by a high number of small and specialized companies operating in specific application domains; building the complete vertical stack by themselves. While they excel in their core business, they may lack IT competences and/or resources to publish and market their information extraction algorithms via modern on-line platforms. The purpose of this project is aimed then at simplifying and automating overall ICT deployment and commercial exploitation of micro geo-services from the Earth Observation sector. Through an online e-commerce platform (Store4EO) enabling advanced capabilities for publishing, ordering, delivery, accounting and billing, the elapsed time between service demand and service output shall be shortened, avoiding repetitive ICT tasks non related to EO value adder core activities, with an overall efficiency improvement and cost reduction. These micro geo services will be deployed and processed at remote cloud infrastructure (e.g DIAS) and will be executed on demand and scheduled for execution (e.g subscription based) .

The Store4EO platform will matchmake EO value adders the customers of EO services by providing the capability to commercialise their processing algorithm. The will be able to order these services and integrate in their decision making process or even to chain a set of micro geo services to create a work a complex workflow.The Store4EO eCommerce service aims to close the gap between the vast number of EO services available in the EO sector and discoverability of these services to the end users. Store4EO will then foster:

• B2B commerce where other value adders could also build high-value added services from further concatenation of micro services (e.g. through APIs and workflows)B2G benefitting from trusted and ready-to-use micro services easy to integrate in their processes
• B2G benefitting from trusted and ready-to-use micro services easy to integrate in their processes
• B2C commerce where users likely make heavy usage of mobile devices in their daily life

A validated pre-operational platform within 4 months of the project. This first version of the pre-operational platform will be ready for the services providers to register and publish their services for the end users. A business model will be defined. It will incorporate the price model, the subscription schemes , the revenue sharing model with the EO services providers , the envisioned cost structure etc.In terms of high level functionality, the Store4EO service will offer interfaces for the service providers to register and deploy their services in the platform. The platform will provide a user interface for the end users to browse through the service catalogue and select the service they prefer. The catalogue will contain all the necessary information to assist the purchasing decision making process of the end user. The end users will be able to order the service after successfully payment. The users will also be view the status of the orders and receive notification when the product is ready for delivery. The end users will have the option to get the output data from the platform or via API.