Digital Earth Australia (DEA) is an initiative by Geoscience Australia that provides satellite imagery to monitor environmental changes, support agriculture, and aid in emergency management. DEA offers accessible data through platforms like DEA Maps and resources for developers and learners to utilise this data effectively. This initiative helps in evidence-based planning and decision-making across various sectors in Australia.

Prerequisites:

• Access to EO data

• Capability to process, integrate and analyse EO data

Cost:

• Ballpark: USD 0.5–5M + USD 100–500k/yr

• Includes: project design and management, procurement of data (free or commercial), analytics development, integration with government workflows, training and capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, maintenance and support

Timeframe:

• Overall: 12–36 mo

• Phase: scoping & stakeholder engagement (3–6 mo), pilot design & setup (3–6 mo), implementation & testing (6–18 mo), evaluation & scale-up preparation (6–12 mo)

Pros:

• Improved Decision Making - Enables informed decision-making by identifying areas that require investment and improvement

• Increased Resilience and Efficiency - Improves allocation of resources while improving recovery after disruption

• Cost Effectiveness - By mutualizing needs, it improves allocation of financial resources, maximizing impact while minimizing waste

• Fomenting Development - By stimulating the local building of capabilities

• Fosters Independence - Limits the need to rely on external entities for the provision of services derived from space downstream capabilities

Considerations:

• Dependency - Reliant on external providers

• Complex - Potential integration and coordination issues

• Investment-Intensity - Can require significant investment

• Need for Expertise - Requires high levels of expertise and coordination