Digital Earth Africa commissioned a report to explore the potential of analysis ready data for Africa. The report explores how analysis ready data can support sustainable development across key sectors: agriculture, forestry, mining, and urban planning The report emphasizes that it enables more informed decision-making by providing accessible, high-quality Earth observation data.

There are examples of use cases collected through different organisations under Additional Resources.

Prerequisites:

• Institutional & political interest and support for utilising EO technologies for services 

• Understand national 

policies and identify national policies that utilise EO data

• Identify and build relationships with relevant ministries, local companies, and other stakeholders to gather comprehensive data on existing EO usage in the nation

• Inter-ministerial working group

• Partner support as needed

Cost:

• Ballpark: USD 10k–20k

• Includes: literature review, stakeholder consultations, expert advisory, report drafting and validation

Note: A complete study would range from USD 50k-250k and include multiple activities such as determining the relevance of the domain, identification of existing data sources, developing use cases, and a capability maturity assessment) 

Timeframe:

• Overall: 6–12 mo

• Phase: scoping (1–2 mo), consultation (2–4 mo), drafting (2–4 mo), validation (1–2 mo)

Pros:

• Resource Efficiency - Allows for focusing limited resources on the most important use cases, maximizing investment impact.

• Target Identification - Helps narrow down the target for solution design, enabling efficient service delivery.

• Project Viability - Increases the feasibility of projects and supports efficient resource allocation.

Considerations

• Volatility - Use case prioritisation may be affected by uncertainties or unforeseen changes, requiring flexible planning.

Additional Sources:

• GEO Knowledge Hub https://gkhub.earthobservations.org/

• NASA https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/

• JAXA https://earth.jaxa.jp/en/application/index.html

• Copernicus https://www.copernicus.eu/en/use-cases

• WEF https://initiatives.weforum.org/earth-observation/use-case-library