Changing the game in Earth Observation - The European Union’s Copernicus programme -

Earth Observation (EO) provides unique means for the objective and spatially-consistent sampling of phenomena and processes in a repeated manner. As such EO is an indispensable source of information for a growing number of domains and specialized applications. In order to satisfy the needs of science and policy making but also to stimulate a desired digitalization of many societal and economic spheres, the European Union launched a powerful infrastructure for EO: Copernicus.

In this talk, I will elaborate on the significance of Copernicus by providing an outline of the programme’s operational and selected upcoming components as well as the plethora of initiatives that currently evolve around Copernicus. The data available from the fleet of Sentinel satellites and - with a focus on the environmental domain - the diverse portfolio of Copernicus services, i.e. readily-available data products, will be presented. Exemplary insights to Copernicus service generation focus on the contributions and activities of the BKG, the German national mapping agency.