Landsat in the Cloud: LandsatLook 2.0

With existing USGS tools you can search for scenes, view thumbnail browse images of scenes, and download scene-based data, all derived from the USGS archive of scene-based products. Now that Landsat scene data has been unpacked and stored in the cloud, LandsatLook 2.0 can access that data and present it to users in ways that were not previously possible. Thanks to the cloud-optimized GeoTiff format, we're no longer limited by scene-based display rules. Pixel mosaics in an area of interest can be queried and displayed without accessing entire scenes, effectively allowing users to select their own scene boundaries.

LandsatLook 2.0 presents a more pleasing view of the data using mosaicked pixels without scene boundaries. Users can also overlay scene, tile, or political boundaries to help determine an area of interest. Selecting and viewing band combinations of the available imagery is super simple. LandsatLook 2.0 also allows users to select and visualize supplied algorithms like NDVI. Users can display or download an animated GIF file of a selected time series over their selected areas of interest.

LandsatLook 2.0 can also apply quality band information to filter out cloudy pixels and replace them with valid pixels from a different collection date. LandsatLook 2.0 provides download capabilities in several ways. Users can download the GIF produced of your time series, they can also download data based on their selection criteria, narrowed by selecting certain bands or an area of interest. They are not limited to shapes of scenes anymore.

All of this is made possible by the storage of Landsat data in the cloud which allows on-the-fly manipulation of data for tremendous user benefit. The EROS team is excited about these new changes and we hope you are too.