Microsoft is positioning Planetary Computer as a instrument for constructing environmental purposes, utilizing information to observe inhabitants, air pollution, plant cowl, climate, and extra, with information that can be utilized as a part of its AI for Good machine studying program.
Planetary Computer isn’t a single software. Instead, it’s a framework for bringing a number of information sources collectively to construct and ship a group of various geospatial environmental purposes. At its coronary heart is a catalog of curated information sources from a mixture of industrial, educational, and authorities organizations, together with the mandatory APIs to question and use that information, in addition to methods to show outcomes.
APIs are primarily based on the STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalogs) specification. You can search by coordinates and by time, permitting you to trace adjustments over time, for instance, monitoring the foliage in a particular space of rainforest over weeks, months, or years. STAC is designed to be provider-agnostic, so the queries you’ve got constructed to work in opposition to one supply in Planetary Computer’s catalog might be repurposed to a different as you add extra sources to your software.
