The Technical Roadmap is developed and approved by the Technical Advisory Committee or TAC. The Roadmap guides the development of DE Africa’s infrastructure and services. It identifies the possible technical avenues we can implement, with an overview of the challenges, opportunities and downstream impacts of input datasets and output products. The purpose of the Technical Roadmap is for DE Africa to be responsive to the needs and priorities of Africa by providing the information required to set the technical priorities that align with program outcomes.
The below are indicative time frames for the key areas of development currently in progress.
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | Nominal operational latency | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec | ||
| Input datasets | ||||||
| Landsat C2 | Operational | 3 days from acquisition | ||||
| Sentinel-2 | Operational | 3 days from acquisition | ||||
| Sentinel-1 | Development | Operational | 3 days from acquisition | |||
| Services | ||||||
| Water Observations from Space | Provisional | Operational | 4 days from acquisition | |||
| Crop Land Map | Development | Provisional | Provisional | Provisional | Provisional | To be confirmed |
| Geomedian annual image | Development | Provisional | Operational | To be confirmed | ||
| Fractional cover | Development | Beta | Provisional | 4 days from acquisition | ||
| Additional services - to be decided | ||||||
A key DE Africa governing principle is that it be agile, nimble and action oriented. The Technical Roadmap is based on a user centric design approach, which follows a six-step process: idea, concept, prototype, operational, insight and refinement.
The components of the Technical Roadmap include:
- Input datasets: the foundational CEOS Analysis Ready Datasets and ancillary data collected from satellite systems such Landsat (US) and Sentinel (Europe) that can be used to derive output services and accessed directly through the DE Africa Platform.
- The DE Africa platform: the software infrastructure and tools that support data visualisation, discovery and analysis and enable users to interface with DE Africa data and services.
- Services: the information products derived from input datasets. An operational service is continuously updated as required input datasets become available. Services may be updated, based on user feedback, to incorporate new sensors, new algorithms and auxiliary data.