CALIFE, a service to discover the quality of life in your neighbourhood

CALIFE (Certification of LIfestyle and Environment) is an operational service designed to make Earth observation–derived environmental information directly accessible to citizens. The service delivers hyper-local “quality of life” reports for any address, synthesising complex Earth observation (EO), in-situ and model data into a clear, visual and actionable format. CALIFE indicators cover key dimensions of everyday living conditions, including air quality, climate and weather comfort, water and vegetation resources, biodiversity and access to green spaces, mobility and accessibility, and exposure to selected climate hazards. Results are presented through intuitive scores, maps and short recommendations, allowing users to understand how their local environment influences well-being.

A core ambition of CALIFE is to address the general public rather than professional or expert users. The service targets non-specialists with no background in EO, climate science or geospatial data. CALIFE explores how highly technical datasets—such as Copernicus services and Destination Earth digital twins—can be transformed into information that is meaningful at the scale of daily life. By lowering technical barriers and focusing on usability, CALIFE represents an attempt to put Earth observation “into the hands of citizens”, fostering environmental awareness, transparency and informed decision-making at neighbourhood level.

Beyond technical and scientific challenges, CALIFE also serves as a laboratory for experimenting with sustainable business models for citizen-oriented EO services. The long-term viability of such services remains a key open question. CALIFE initially explored a micro-payment model for individual users, but has since evolved towards a hybrid approach: free access for the general public with controlled usage (limited number of reports per user), combined with paid bulk report generation for public authorities and private actors requiring large-scale analyses. This contribution will discuss both the service design choices and the lessons learned regarding sustainability, scalability and citizen engagement when deploying EO-based services for non-expert audiences.