A Python Library for the Jupyteo IDE Earth Observation Processing Tool Enabling Interoperability with the QGIS System for Use in Data Science

Abstract

This paper describes JupyQgis – a new Python library for Jupyteo IDE enabling interoperability with the QGIS system. Jupyteo is an online integrated development environment for earth observation data processing and is available on a cloud platform. It is targeted at remote sensing experts, scientists and users who can develop the Jupyter notebook by reusing embedded open-source tools, WPS interfaces and existing notebooks. In recent years, there has been an increasing popularity of data science methods that have become the focus of many organizations. Many scientific disciplines are facing a significant transformation due to data-driven solutions. This is especially true of geodesy, environmental sciences, and Earth sciences, where large data sets, such as Earth observation satellite data (EO data) and GIS data are used. The previous experience in using Jupyteo, both among the users of this platform and its creators, indicates the need to supplement its functionality with GIS analytical tools. This study analyzed the most efficient way to combine the functionality of the QGIS system with the functionality of the Jupyteo platform in one tool. It was found that the most suitable solution is to create a custom library providing an API for collaboration between both environments. The resulting library makes the work much easier and simplifies the source code of the created Python scripts. The functionality of the developed solution was illustrated with a test use case.