The JRC Big Data Analytics Platform (BDAP)
The JRC Big Data Analytics Platform aims at linking data, data scientists, thematic and policy experts to generate policy relevant insights and foresight. A common denominator of most data analysed in this context is that they refer to a location both in time and space. When it comes to data volumes, the largest share consists of geospatial data in the form of raster images or vector files. Indeed, geospatial data play a fundamental role to answer key societal questions related to climate change, biodiversity, deforestation, agriculture, pandemics, etc. In addition, an integrated approach to data analytics is needed to tackle these complex questions in view of determining causal effects between mutually dependent variables. The need for frequent satellite image acquisitions in different spatio-temporal and spectral resolutions to answer these key environmental questions motivated the European Union to launch the Copernicus programme that is now delivering a continuous stream of free, full, and open data and largely contributed to Earth Observation entering the big data era.
This keynote lecture will present how the JRC Earth Observation Data and Processing Platform (JEODPP) evolved into a multi-purpose data infrastructure (called Big Data Analytics Platform, BDAP) serving the needs of the Joint Research Centre across many of its thematic activities.