Since its founding in 2005, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has championed the vision that the lasting impact of Earth Observation (EO) on real-world challenges will be achieved through open and collaborative sharing of data, products, and services worldwide. In this context, GEO unites governments, international organisations, research institutions, businesses, and civil society in a collaborative platform to build a more sustainable and resilient future. It develops services and solutions, while also fostering open access, interoperability and sharing of community-driven EO resources to maximise impact. Concurrently, NRENs all around the world have also been supporting EO researchers for a long time, delivering lasting impact, and leading multiple national initiatives and strong collaborations.
Throughout 2025, a series of infoshares organised by GÉANT and GEO explores the role of RRENs and NRENs in supporting EO research. Following up from a first session on 22 April, a second infoshare, held on on 27 May 2025, covered the GEO Infrastructure strategy and the key challenges it navigates, highlighted inspiring user cases from partners such as EUMETSAT, and showcased the role of NRENs in supporting EO research, with insightful stories from CSC and ASNET-AM. The session ended with a lively panel discussion on data access and regional collaboration.
GEO Infrastructure Strategy
After an introduction by Daniela Brauner (GÉANT), Paola De Salvo (GEO) delivered the first presentation, emphasising GEO’s commitment to “Earth Intelligence for All” by enabling informed decision-making through open data and coordinated global partnerships. The presentation introduced the GEO Infrastructure strategy, highlighting GEO’s commitment to create interoperable, sustainable platforms that enable seamless data sharing among countries and research communities worldwide. Furthermore, it explained the development of the revised GEO Infrastructure, designed to better organise EO resources thematically and to make them accessible and reusable through scenario services that address specific user needs. A central piece of this infrastructure is the GEO Knowledge Hub — a digital library to catalogue and provide access to curated applications, data, training materials and code, provided by the EO community. This distributed system extends to national and institutional levels, tailoring the cataloguing and searching of resources to local challenges. Finally, Paola illustrated in a demo how the Hub helps users to find relevant, reusable knowledge packages while fostering collaboration and reducing duplication.
EUMETCast Terrestrial and the vital support of the GÉANT Community on satellite data distribution
Vincent Gabaglio (EUMETSAT) showcased how the GÉANT community has been supporting EUMETSAT on the distribution of satellite data through EUMETCast — a vital service for real-time EO data delivery. Vincent explained how leveraging the high-performance GÉANT network enhances the reliability and reach of this service, benefiting researchers and stakeholders worldwide. EUMETCast Terrestrial uses the terrestrial lines of Regional and National Research and Education Networks to distribute satellite data and enable near-real-time access for users around the globe.
Armenian Data Cube
Shushanik Asmaryan (Centre for Ecological-Noosphere Studies in Armenia) presented the Armenian Data Cube — a platform to manage large amounts of EO data and perform exploratory data analysis of multi-spectral satellite images using multi-core and multi-thread Cloud simulations. These consist of both communication and distributed computing infrastructures, supported by ASNET-AM, the Armenian NREN. Addressing Armenia’s environmental challenges and monitoring gaps, Shushanik highlighted the role of satellite data in supporting sustainable development, and presented a key use case covering the shoreline monitoring of Lake Sevan using satellite and UAV imagery.
CSC Earth Observation Support
Kylli Ek (CSC) presented CSC’s computing services, particularly through the Puhti, Mahti, and the EuroHPC LUMI supercomputers, its support for Finnish EO researchers and how they can benefit from pre-installed geospatial tools (QGIS, SNAP, etc.), the Paituli STAC catalogue, which includes 175 datasets, and CSC’s specialised EO training and technical support activities. Also available through a consortium of which CSC is actively part of, is the Geoportti Research Infrastructure (RI) – a shared service for researchers, teachers, and students using geospatial data and geocomputing tools.
Looking Ahead: Strengthening National and Global EO Infrastructure
This event showcased just some examples of how NRENs support the Earth Observation community, going beyond connectivity to provide essential support for key research infrastructures in different countries. The partnership with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) holds great potential: combining the national reach of NRENs with GEO’s infrastructure plans at the national level, can not only enhance global data access but also drive innovation in areas such as climate, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development. This collaboration opens up new opportunities for joint projects and strengthens research engagement for NRENs.
The Infoshare Series on Earth Observation Support Through NRENs is coordinated by the GÉANT Research Engagement and EU Liaison teams, in collaboration with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the GÉANT Special Interest Group on Research Engagement and Development (SIG-RED).
More information about the second session, including presentation slides, is available on: GÉANT Events.
