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<p>DE Africa data and tools can be accessed through several <strong>pathways</strong>. The main methods are:</p>
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<p>DE Africa offers web map services compliant with OGC standards. For example, a <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/platform_tools/web_services_gis.html#:~:text=A%20Web%20Map%20Service%20,HTTPS%29%20requests" target="_blank">Web Map Service (WMS)</a> delivers georeferenced map images over HTTPS. In a WMS you essentially get an image (JPG/PNG) of the data on demand. A <strong>Web Coverage Service (WCS)</strong> delivers raw raster data (the original pixel values) rather than just pictures.</p>
<p>A <strong>Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)</strong> provides pre-rendered map tiles at multiple zoom levels (like Google Maps). These services allow GIS software (e.g. QGIS or ArcGIS) or web apps to fetch only the needed portion of data. For example, you can connect QGIS to <code><span style="color: #339966;">https://ows.digitalearth.africa/wms?version=1.3.0</span></code> to browse layers.</p>
<p>The DE Africa<strong> Map interface</strong> is a no-code web portal built on these services: it lets users visually explore datasets and change layers without writing code.</p>
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<p>All <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/platform_tools/direct_access.html#:~:text=%2A%20%60deafrica" target="_blank">DE Africa data products </a>are openly hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3. There are public buckets such as <code>deafrica-landsat</code>, <code><span style="color: #339966;">deafrica-sentinel-1</span></code>, <code><span style="color: #339966;">deafrica-sentinel-2</span></code>, <code><span style="color: #339966;">deafrica-input-datasets</span></code>, and <code><span style="color: #339966;">deafrica-services</span></code>. These contain the underlying imagery and analysis-ready products (e.g. annual mosaics, water masks, etc.).</p>
<p>Most DE Africa products are stored as <strong>Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs)</strong>, which are GeoTIFF files optimized for streaming and subsetting. You can use the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) or tools like GDAL to list and download data. For instance, to list the contents of a bucket, you might run:</p>
<p><span style="color: #313131; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">___________________________________________________________</span></p>
<p><span face="monospace, serif" style="font-family: monospace, serif;">aws s3 ls --region=af-south-1 s3://deafrica-landsat/ --no-sign-request</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #313131; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">___________________________________________________________ </span></p>
<p>This uses the AWS region <code><span style="color: #339966;">af-south-1</span></code> (Cape Town). You may need to set an environment variable <code><span style="color: #339966;">AWS_S3_ENDPOINT=s3.af-south-1.amazonaws.com</span></code> for some tools. Once you find a file path in S3, you can construct an HTTPS URL like <code><span style="color: #339966;">https://<bucket>.s3.af-south-1.amazonaws.com/<key></span></code> to use in any application. Direct access gives you the <strong>raw data files</strong> (e.g. full multi-band images) to use locally or in custom processing.</p>
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<p>DE Africa provides a <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/platform_tools/odc_stac.html#:~:text=Simple%20Cloud%20Storage%20,of%20your%20choice%2C%20in%20the" target="_blank">SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) API</a> endpoint at <a href="https://explorer.digitalearth.africa/stac/" target="_blank">https://explorer.digitalearth.africa/stac/</a> . STAC is a standard for cataloging geospatial assets with space/time metadata. Using STAC, you can perform flexible search queries (by bounding box, time range, collection, etc.) and get back metadata and links to the data.</p>
<p>The <span style="color: #339966;"><strong>odc-stac</strong></span> Python module converts STAC metadata into an Open Data Cube format (xarray Datasets), allowing you to load the data into Python (with Dask support) on your own machine or cloud instance. In practice, you connect to the STAC catalog in code (e.g. using <code><span style="color: #339966;">pystac-client</span></code>), run a search, and then load the results. For example, the DE Africa documentation shows using <span style="color: #339966;">Client.open("https://explorer.digitalearth.africa/stac") and catalog.search(...)</span> to find items. This approach is great for custom, coded analyses at scale.</p>
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<p>The DE Africa <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/sandbox/index.html#:~:text=The%20DE%20Africa%20Analysis%20Sandbox,rapid%20development%20of%20new%20algorithms" target="_blank">Analysis Sandbox</a> is a free, cloud-based JupyterLab platform. It comes pre-loaded with data access libraries (such as ODC and <code><span style="color: #339966;">odc-stac</span></code>) and offers up to 32 GB of RAM. You can use Python notebooks here to explore data without installing anything locally.</p>
<p>This environment “democratizes access” by providing tools and data in-browser. Keep in mind that it’s a managed environment: you have limited computing resources and cannot permanently install new software (each session starts fresh). The Sandbox is ideal if you want to write and run code against DE Africa data without managing your own infrastructure. </p>
<p><img height="467" width="915" src="/assets/courseware/v1/d1f8e9dd4a4ed157a8d9e1612f7f3459/asset-v1:digitalearthafrica+DEA101+2021+type@asset+block/Image102.png" alt="Digtal Earth Africa Sandbox" /></p>
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<p>A browser-based map interface for point-and-click exploration of imagery and decision-ready products. It’s described in the User Guide as “our user-friendly map-based access to DE Africa data and products.” </p>
<p>No coding is required — simply open the map, browse layers, and use time sliders or split views to inspect changes over time.</p>
<p>This is ideal for rapid visualisation and newcomers. For a quick primer, see the Map help page’s “Get started” steps (Add Data → pick a dataset → Add to map). </p>
<p><img height="443" width="909" src="/assets/courseware/v1/d0a215e9076b627549faa753a37795f8/asset-v1:digitalearthafrica+DEA101+2021+type@asset+block/Image103.png" alt="DE Africa Map" /></p>
<p><strong>Quick start (1–2 minutes):</strong></p>
<ol><ol>
<li>Go to <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/maps/deafrica_map.html" target="_blank">maps.digitalearth.africa</a> → <strong>Explore data</strong> → pick a product (e.g., WOfS) → <strong>Add to map</strong>.</li>
<li>Use the <strong>date picker/time slider</strong> and <strong>split view</strong> to compare periods.</li>
</ol></ol>
<p>💡 <em><strong>Tip</strong>: If you need authoritative details (layer names, OWS URLs, specs), jump from a layer’s About panel to the <a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/index.html" target="[object Object]">User Guide</a> and data specs.</em></p>
<p>🧭 <em><strong>Navigation hint:</strong> Map for what it looks like; Metadata Explorer for where/when it exists (availability).</em></p>
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<p>Below are additional pathways you can reference (great to know as you pick the right tool for each task):</p>
<p><img height="425" width="905" src="/assets/courseware/v1/b1c4055f98d6b5e0953827f74be68126/asset-v1:digitalearthafrica+DEA101+2021+type@asset+block/Image104.png" alt="Digital Earth Metadata Explorer" /></p>
<ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/platform_tools/explorer.html" target="_blank">Metadata Explorer</a> — purpose-built to show <strong>where and when</strong> products are available; ideal for coverage checks and item discovery. </li>
<li><a href="https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/maps/geoportal.html" target="_blank">Africa GeoPortal (Esri)</a> — a complementary <strong>Esri</strong> entry point that surfaces DE Africa layers for map-based work in the ArcGIS ecosystem.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p><strong>🔎 </strong><em><strong>One-stop hub</strong>: The User Guide “Platforms” page lists Map, Explorer, OGC Web Services, Sandbox, Direct Access, ODC–STAC, and more — bookmark it as your launchpad.</em></p>
<p><strong>🧩 </strong><em><strong>Choose smart:</strong> Map = no-code visuals; Explorer = availability; WMS/WCS = GIS integration; S3 = files; STAC = scripted scale.</em> </p>
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