Spatio-Temporal Datacube Infrastructures as a Basis for Targeted Data Spaces

Data Spaces promise an innovative packaging of data and services into targeted one-stop shops of insight. A key ingredient for the fulfilment of the Data Space promise is easier, analysis-ready and fit-for-purpose access in particular to the Big Data which EO pixels and voxels constitute. Datacubes have proven to offer suitable service concepts and today are considered an acknowledge cornerstone.

In the GAIA-X EO Expert Group, a subgroup of the Geoinformation Working Group, one of the use cases investigated is the EarthServer federation. It bridges a seeming contradiction: a decentralized approach of independent data providers - with heterogeneous offerings, paid as well as free - versus
a single, common pool of datacubes where users do not need to know where data sit inorder to access, analyse, mix, and match them. Currently, a total of 140+ Petabyte is online available.

Membership in EarthServer is open and free, with a Charter being finalized ensuring transparent and democratic governance (one data provider - one vote). EarthServer thereby presents a key building block for the forthcoming Data Spaces: not only does it allow unifying data within a given Data Space, it also acts as a natural enabler for bridging and integrating different Data Spaces. This is amplified by the fact that the technology underlying EarthServer
is both the OGC datacube reference implementation and the INSPIRE Good Practice.

In our talk we present concept and practice of location-transparent datacube federations, exemplified by EarthServer, and its opportunities for future-directed Data Spaces.