Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contest

Remote sensing is making its way into more and more applications and fields. Tools like the Sentinel Hub EO Browser with its custom scripting allow all people to browse, analyse and visualise satellite data in almost real-time.

Together with our partners, the Copernicus EU Earth Observation programme, the European Space Agency and AI4EO consortium we are looking for new and innovative ideas and scripts. Therefore, we have organized a series of the Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contests starting with the first one in Spring 2019 and following with the second one in Winter 2019/2020. In April and May we have organized a special edition of the Contest - the Covid-19 Custom Script Contest. It was aiming to help the world facing huge challenges getting back to 'normal' after the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.

The success of the series motivated us to continue with the third edition of the Contest, starting on 4th August 2020. Although you will have time to submit your scripts until 31st October 2020, we would like to encourage you to make an early bird submission before 20th September. A special prize is waiting for one of the early birds.

The results of the first Custom Script Contest are available here and of the second one here. See also the results of the Covid-19 Custom Script Contest.

The third round of the Contest is introducing a new challenge (optional), with dedicated prizes. To qualify for it, besides the already known requirements, your script will have to be based on a machine learning workflow developed using eo-learn - a collection of open source Python packages to seamlessly access and automate the processing of spatio-temporal image sequences acquired by any satellite fleet. You can find an example of such script here. Ideally participants would contribute to the code-base during the contest.

A selection of visualisations created with the custom scripts submitted to the second round of the Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contest. Check also one of our blog posts for more.

Categories

We want the Contest to be completely open. So, all the submitted scripts will compete under one common category no matter for which data source (Sentinels, Landsat, etc.) the scripts were used for, or if the script is eo-learn-based or not. Many scripts could run in different categories anyway, so it is just fair to compare them to all scripts handed in.

How to Create a Script?

If you need some help and instructions on how to get started with custom scripting for the EO Browser we suggest you read:

If you are new to the custom scripting, we would suggest that you check out our friendly Custom Script Tutorial, which will guide you through the first steps and help you create simple custom scripts.

The Forest Cut Temporal Detection script - the second runner in the first Contest under the Agriculture and Forestry category - applided to the Sentinel-2 image of Madagascar forest from 2018 and compared with a raw image from 2017. Visualization in Sentinel Playground Temporal

Attractive Prizes

We will award the best three custom scripts as follows:

First prize: 1,000 EUR and 1-year Enterprise Sentinel Hub account (worth 5,000 EUR)

and 1-year Enterprise Sentinel Hub account (worth 5,000 EUR) Second prize: 300 EUR and 1-year Individual Commercial Sentinel Hub account (worth 1,000 EUR)

and 1-year Individual Commercial Sentinel Hub account (worth 1,000 EUR) Third prize: 1-year Individual Commercial Sentinel Hub account (worth 1,000 EUR)

In addition to above, there will be special prizes awarded to:

the best eo-learn-based script: 700 EUR

the best custom script submitted by a high-schooler or a high-school team: 300 EUR + a box of goodies large enough for all team members

Among all the early bird submittions we will award:

the best custom script with 500 EUR

the best eo-learn-based script with 300 EUR

The scripts winning the early bird awards will also compete in the overall competition at the end of the Contest. All winners will also get an opportunity to highlight their winning scripts in the Sentinel Hub blog.

How to Participate?

All scripts must run within the Sentinel Hub EO Browser or with multi-temporal instance of Sentinel Playground.

All scripts have to be handed in as text files until 31st October 2020 (23:59 CET) .

. The early bird submission need to be handed in before 20th September 2020 (23:59 CET) .

. Together with the script, you have to hand in a proper description on what your script can be used for and explain how it is achieving that. You can include the description in Jupyter Notebook or in a separate file.

By handing in a script you confirm to be the sole author(s) of the script and to have the necessary rights to do so.

Every single participant or group can hand in up to three scripts.

All entries must be licensed under the Creative Commons BY license, so they can be added to the custom scripts repository and be used freely by all.

Besides, the eo-learn-based scripts also need to comply with the following:

The process has to cover a machine learning technique and it has to use eo-learn. The result of the process has to be an actual custom script.

You have to submit Jupyter Notebook or Python code (as an open-source).

The Forest Hurricane script - the third best SAR script in the first Contest - applided to the Sentinel-1 image of Chojnice, Poland in August 2017, showing the area before and after the hurricane. Visualization in EO Browser

Aditional Requirements

Besides the general description of the script the following information is required:

Scripts applicability

False detection problems (if any)

Detailed description of how the script works

Representative cases / images with details

Visualization in EO Browser or with multi-temporal instance of Sentinel Playground (a link to a working script)

References

Credits - In case your script is based on other people's work make sure to include the necessary citations and links to relevant papers.

Submit Your Script

By participating in the Contest, you confirm that you have read and you agree with the Terms and Conditions of the Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contest as well as with the Sentinel Hub's Terms of Service.

Timelapse (2019) of Lake Balaton with Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 imagery side by side showing the Ulyssys Water Quality Viewer - the winning script in the second round of the Contest. Click here for more about the script.

Our Jury

Annamaria Luongo Remote sensing consultant. Her main interests are Earth surface deformation caused by volcanoes and earthquakes, deforestation and natural hazards. She also has a keen interest in climate change and pollution. Harel Dan GIS and remote sensing at HaMaarag, Israel's National Nature Assessment Program. His special interests are wildfire damages, long-term vegetation trends, landcover and landcover change mapping, and the encroaching of buildings and infrastructure on open landscapes. Hayley Evers-King Hayley Evers-King is a marine EO scientist with a focus on Sentinel-3 and ocean colour. Hayley has worked on a wide variety of topics including water quality, ocean heat flux, and carbon pools. She is passionate about growing the use of EO data and currently supports EUMETSAT on user support and training activities for their Copernicus missions. She believes science communication is part of every scientists job and has been involved in many activities promoting EO science, from the creation of ocean MOOCs, youtube videos, and open source python tutorials, to music compositions, poetry evenings, and cooking demonstrations. Mark Parrington Mark Parrington is a senior scientist at ECMWF where he works with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service development team. His scientific interests are in using observations from satellites and aircraft to understand wildfires and how their emissions impact global atmospheric composition and air quality. Miha Kadunc Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Sinergise Stef Lhermitte Remote sensing scientist with specific interest in the use of multi-source remote sensing and land surface modelling to assess the cryosphere, atmosphere and ecosystem dynamics. Since 2016 he is assistant professor of Geoscience & Remote Sensing at the TUDelft in the Netherlands. Thomas E L Smith Dr Thomas Smith is Assistant Professor of Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography & Environment at the London School of Economics. Dr Smith is particularly interested in complex interactions between agricultural practices, land degradation, wildfires emissions and their associated impacts.

Evaluation Criteria

Originality

Scientific relevance

Global applicability (scripts, which can run on different parts of the world will rank better)

Business/Commercial potential

Visual appeal

Burned areas after fires - multi-temporal script showing places, where NBR changed significantly before and after fire. View script in Sentinel Playground

FAQ

When and how will I be informed about results? We will announce the winners of the Contest on this web page latest on 30th November 2020. However, everyone will also be informed by e-mail within 3 working days after the announcement.



Can I base the script on a publicly available research paper? Yes, of course. We believe there is a lot of useful research available in the EO domain and it should be used to all extent. You should however appropriately credit the work in the accompanying document.



Do I need to subscribe to Sentinel Hub to participate in the Contest? No. EO Browser is a free tool. In case you need some advanced features (e.g. time-lapse, comparison, etc.), you can create a free account. If you would actually require Sentinel Hub web services to fine-tune your script, you can use a 30-days free trial option or simply send us an e-mail and we will ensure you can do your work.



I want to use multi-temporal processing, which is not supported in EO Browser. What to do? For such cases, you are allowed to use the Multi-temporal instance of Sentinel Playground.



My script stops working after it becomes too long. There is indeed a technical limit on number of chars, which can be passed over HTTP. But no worries, there is a simple way to solve it.



I am more interested in sharing knowledge than a monetary prize. Should I still participate? Of course, this is the main objective of this Contest. In case you do not want to receive the prize, you can name a philanthropy organisation of your choice and we will donate the amount to them.



Can I submit scripts, which just look nice? Main goal of this action is to share knowledge. However, art is important as well and we need to be aware of the beauty of our Planet, so go ahead!



If I do not win the prize, will my script still be added to the Custom Script repository? We plan to add all scripts, which seem sound, to the repository. We will also be publishing a stream of short blog posts about all interesting scripts.



I have submitted a script but now I want to correct it. What to do? No problem. Simply submit a new version of the script and state very clearly at the beginning that this submission is replacing a previous one.



Where can I get more information? Ask a question on our Forum and we will respond.



See also Terms and Conditions of the Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contest for more details.

Results of the First Custom Script Contest

All the scripts that were submitted to the Contest in Spring 2019 were classified in one of the categories below and added to the GitHub (see results below for direct links). The winners of the contest were announced during the Living Planet Symposium in Milan on May 15th 2019 and informed by e-mail the day after.

The authors of the best scripts won attractive prizes, and the author of the overall best script got an invitation to visit the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), home of ESA’s centre for Earth Observation, to discuss his script with experts in the relevant fields.

The winning scripts were highligted in our blog post Why join the next Sentinel Hub Custom Script Contest and in two guest blog posts, Mapping deforestation with Sentinel Hub by Nicolas Karasiak, and Sentinel Hub supporting IBISA in the Crop Micro-Insurance Field by Jean-Baptiste Pleynet.

Best Overall Script

Detecting deep moist convection with Sentinel-2 - Stavros Dafis, Greece

Agriculture and Forestry

Marine Environment

Snow and Glaciers

Disaster Management and Prevention

Air Quality and Urban Planning

Other Scripts

Best SAR Script

Results of the Second Custom Script Contest

The second Contest started on October 15th 2019 and ended on January 31st 2020. All entries were judged by a jury of experts on functionality and usefulness, as well as possible commercial potential.

The Winning Scripts

Tsimlyansk Reservoir, Russia. The Ulyssys Water Quality Viewer applied to the Sentinel-2 image, acquired on September 5th, 2019. The script is dynamically visualizing the chlorophyll and sediment conditions of water bodies on both Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 images See it in EO Browser

All received scripts are available on our Github repository:

4. Tonemapped natural color script by Gregory Ivanov, Russia

5. Aquatic plants and algae custom script detector (APA-script) by Anna Péliová, Carla Garcia-Lozano and Josep Sitjar, Spain

6. Water In Wetlands Index (WIW) - Sentinel-2 Version by WILLM Loïc, LEFEBVRE GaÎtan, DAVRANCHE AurÈlie, CAMPAGNA Julie, REDMOND Lauren, MERLE ClÈment, GUELMAMI Anis and POULIN Brigitte, France

7. Water In Wetlands Index - Landsat 8 Version by WILLM Loïc, LEFEBVRE GaÎtan, DAVRANCHE AurÈlie, CAMPAGNA Julie, REDMOND Lauren, MERLE ClÈment, GUELMAMI Anis and POULIN Brigitte, France

8. Se2WaQ by Nuno Sidónio Andrade Pereira, Portugal

9. Soil Moisture Estimation script by Narayana Rao Bhogapurapu, India

10. Land use visualization for Sentinel 2 using Linear Discriminant Analysis by Marta Elvira, Roberto Calvo and Javier Becerra, Spain

11. OLCI Natural Colours with Sigmoid by Jérôme LOUIS, France

12. TOA Ratio B09-B8A ColorMap Blue-Red & Natural Colours by Jérôme LOUIS, France

13. Selective Enhancement based on Indices by Sérgio Augusto Jardim Volkmer, Brazil

14. Water Bodies' Mapping - WBM by Mohor Gartner, Slovenia

15. Tracking Radar Vegetation Index (agriculture development) change by Valters Zeizis, Latvia

16. Flood Mapping With Sentinel-1 by Maryam Salehi, Iran

17. Index visualization by Martin Javorka, Slovakia

18. Homage to Mondrian by Matevž Pintar, Slovenia

19. NDVI on L2A Vegetation and natural Colours by Jérôme LOUIS, France

20. Radar Vegetation Index for Sentinel-1 (RVI4S1) SAR data by Dipankar Mandal, India

21. Radar vegetation index code for dual polarimetric - RVI script by Subhadip Dey, India

22. SAR for deforestation detection by Antonio Carlón Paredes, Spain

23. Agricultural Crop Monitoring from Space by Maryam Salehi, Iran

Results of the COVID-19 Custom Script Contest

European Space Agency (ESA), in coordination with the European Commission, has launched a special edition of the Custom Script Contest, focused on the support of space assets during the COVID-19 crisis, managed by Euro Data Cube group. Following a similar format, but further to looking for new algorithms, we were in the quest for ideas on how satellite data could help monitor and mitigate the situation after the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. During the Contest (from 6th of April to 31st of May 2020) we have received many interesting ideas and proposals from remote sensing experts, machine learning scientists and the interested public.

The Best Overall Idea

Truck Detection - Sensing Trade from Space by Henrik Fisser, Germany (Economic operators’ activity category)

Monthly Winning Ideas - April 2020

Monthly Winning Ideas - May 2020

Weekly Winning Ideas