About EOX::Maps for ESA
EOX::Maps for ESA are background and overlay maps provided by EOX for usage by ESA
These maps are made of Open Data and designed and hosted by EOX. They can be accessed via the standardized web services WMTS and WMS.
Note that usage is currently reserved to map clients operated by ESA for the benefit of its Earth Observation user communities.
The following maps are available:
- Terrain Light background map
- Terrain background map
- Sentinel-2 cloudless background map for 2018 as well as 2016
- Overlay map
This overlay contains labels for topographic features, cities, streets, etc. and is optimized for bright backgrounds like the terrain map above.
- Bright overlay map
This is the overlay optimized for dark backgrounds like the marbles below.
- OpenStreetMap background map
- Blue & black marble background maps
All maps are provided as WMTS and WMS layers in simple longlat projection also known as WGS84 or EPSG:4326 or pseudo-mercator projection also known as Google projection, EPSG:3857, or EPSG:900913.
Try out the interactive demo at the top of this page to explore the available data or proceed to the next section to find out how to use the maps in your application.
EOX::Maps Usage
In order to use the maps in your application you first need the approval from the ESA responsible. Please send your request for access to Olivier Barois olivier.barois@esa.int. Note that usage is currently reserved to map clients operated by ESA for the benefit of its Earth Observation user communities. You will usually get a response within a few working days.
The maps can easily be embedded using some html and javascript code like shown here which gives this. Of course you can include the provided WMTS or WMS layers directly in your client using the following details.
- WMTS Capabilities: /wmts/1.0.0/WMTSCapabilities.xml
- WMS Capabilities: /wms?service=wms&request=getcapabilities
- Usable URLs: *.tiles.esa.maps.eox.at/wmts/
- Layers
- Terrain Light background map
- Name: Terrain Light
- Identifier: terrain-light
- Levels: 0-12 (EPSG:4326), 0-13 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Terrain Light { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and others, Rendering © EOX }
- Recommended overlay: Overlay
- Sample URLs:
- Terrain background map
- Name: Terrain
- Identifier: terrain
- Levels: 0-12 (EPSG:4326), 0-13 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Terrain { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and others, Rendering © EOX }
- Recommended overlay: Overlay
- Sample URLs:
- EPSG:4326: /wmts/1.0.0/terrain/default/WGS84/0/0/1.jpg
- EPSG:3857: /wmts/1.0.0/terrain_3857/default/g/0/0/0.jpg
- Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 background map
- Name: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016
- Identifier: s2cloudless
- Levels: 0-13 (EPSG:4326), 0-13 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Sentinel-2 cloudless - https://s2maps.eu by EOX IT Services GmbH (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016 & 2017)
- Recommended overlay: Bright overlay
- Sample URLs:
- Sentinel-2 cloudless 2018 background map
- Name: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2018
- Identifier: s2cloudless-2018
- Levels: 0-13 (EPSG:4326), 0-13 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Sentinel-2 cloudless - https://s2maps.eu by EOX IT Services GmbH (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2017 & 2018)
- Recommended overlay: Bright overlay
- Sample URLs:
- Overlay map
- Name: Overlay
- Identifier: overlay
- Levels: 0-17 (EPSG:4326), 0-18 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Overlay { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Rendering © EOX and MapServer }
- Sample URLs:
- EPSG:4326: /wmts/1.0.0/overlay/default/WGS84/0/0/1.jpg
- EPSG:3857: /wmts/1.0.0/overlay_3857/default/g/0/0/0.jpg
- Bright overlay map
- Name: Overlay (Bright)
- Identifier: overlay_bright
- Levels: 0-17 (EPSG:4326), 0-18 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Overlay { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Rendering © EOX and MapServer }
- Sample URLs:
- Coastline overlay
- Name: Coastline
- Identifier: coastline
- Levels: 0-12 (EPSG:4326), 0-13 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Coastline { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and others, Rendering © EOX }
- Sample URLs:
- EPSG:4326: /wmts/1.0.0/coastline/default/WGS84/0/0/1.jpg
- EPSG:3857: /wmts/1.0.0/coastline_3857/default/g/0/0/0.jpg
- OpenStreetMap background map
- Name: OpenStreetMap
- Identifiers: osm, osm_3857
- Levels: 0-17 (EPSG:4326), 0-18 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: OpenStreetMap { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Rendering © MapServer and EOX }
- Recommended overlay: No overlay
- Sample URLs:
- EPSG:4326: /wmts/1.0.0/osm/default/WGS84/0/0/1.jpg
- EPSG:3857: /wmts/1.0.0/osm_3857/default/g/0/0/0.jpg
- Blue marble background maps
- Name: Blue Marble
- Identifier: bluemarble
- Levels: 0-8 (EPSG:4326), 0-9 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Blue Marble { © NASA }
- Recommended overlay: Bright overlay
- Sample URLs:
- Black marble background maps
- Name: Black Marble
- Identifier: blackmarble
- Levels: 0-7 (EPSG:4326), 0-8 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Black Marble { © NASA }
- Recommended overlay: Bright overlay
- Sample URLs:
- Streets overlay map
- Name: Streets overlay
- Identifier: street
- Levels: 0-14 (EPSG:4326), 0-14 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Overlay { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Rendering © EOX }
- Sample URLs:
- EPSG:4326: /wmts/1.0.0/street/default/WGS84/0/0/1.jpg
- EPSG:3857: /wmts/1.0.0/street_3857/default/g/0/0/0.jpg
- Hydrography overlay map
- Name: Hydrography overlay
- Identifier: hydrography
- Levels: 0-14 (EPSG:4326), 0-14 (EPSG:3857)
- Attribution: Hydrography overlay { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Rendering © EOX }
- Sample URLs:
- Terrain Light background map
Don't forget that proper attribution is required for any usage. Please use the attribution as given above including the respective links e.g. Terrain { Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and others, Rendering © EOX }
In addition to the maps there is elevation data available via WCS.
- WCS Capabilities: /elevation?service=wcs&request=getcapabilities
- Coverages
- CopDEM
- Name: Copernicus DEM
- CoverageID: copdem
- Format: image/tiff
- Attribution: © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved.
- License: PDF
- Sample URL: /elevation?service=wcs&version=2.0.1&request=getcoverage&outputCRS=http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326&size=x(33)&size=y(33)&coverageid=copdem&format=image/tiff&subset=x,http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326(0,90)&subset=y,http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326(0,90)
- ACE2 - Deprecated and to be removed
- Name: ACE2 Elevation
- CoverageID: ace2
- Format: image/x-aaigrid
- Attribution: ACE2 { © ACE2 }
- Sample URL: /elevation?service=wcs&version=2.0.1&request=getcoverage&outputCRS=http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326&size=x(33)&size=y(33)&coverageid=ace2&format=image/x-aaigrid&subset=x,http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326(0,90)&subset=y,http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326(0,90)
- CopDEM
You are interested in a custom map? You need a map in your custom projection? You need an offline map for your intranet? Just get in touch with us , we gladly offer our professional support.
You want to be mentioned as showcase below or on maps.eox.at? You have suggestions to make our maps more awesome? In any case, we'd love to hear from you .
EOX::Maps for ESA Showcases
Interactive demo 
The interactive demo at the top of this page offers the various background maps selectable at the top right of the map.
Apart from the motivation to create beautiful maps one of the main drivers is to split background from overlay layers to enable embedding data properly in between. The reason is that both background and overlay provide spatial context in different ways. The background (e.g. Terrain) provides an idea of land usage and topography while the overlay adds labels and line features like borders or streets to provide more detailed information. Depending on the background map one of the two overlays can be enabled. Over the Terrain map for example the dark version is used whereas the bright version for better visibility can be enabled over the marble background maps.
Interactive 3D demoCopernicus Open Access Hub by 
&
EOX::Maps for ESA are used in the Copernicus Open Access Hub.
The system uses EOX' background and overlay maps in its central map display to put search results of Earth Observation data in spatial context.
Click on the image below to access the Copernicus Open Access Hub.
Copernicus Sentinel App by &
The Copernicus Sentinel App is a gateway to knowing the Copernicus Sentinel satellites. It lets users track the satellites in real-time, discover their key elements, read the latest news and learn more about their products.
Download the Copernicus Sentinel App for iOS
Download the Copernicus Sentinel App for Android
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
EOX guarantees include the following.
- General warranty for the period of operations
- Temporal service availability more than 98%
- 24/7 monitoring of the service with a response time of maximum 1 hour during office hours
- A capacity guaranteeing at least 8000 served WMTS or WMS requests of 256x256 pixels per minute
- A capacity guaranteeing at least 400 served WMS requests per minute with a maximum of 1024x1024 pixels
- A capacity guaranteeing at least 80 served WCS requests per minute with a maximum of 1024x1024 pixels
Operations is contracted until March 13th 2025.
Data
The following datasets are used to generate EOX::Maps. Note that most of these datasets are Open Data. The layers for which the dataset is used are indicated in brackets.
- Sentinel-2 provided by the European Commission (free, full and open access) [Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 & 2018]
- OpenStreetMap © OpenStreetMap contributors [Terrain Light, Terrain, OpenStreetMap, Overlay, Coastline, Hydrography, Streets]
- NaturalEarth public domain [Terrain Light, Terrain, Overlay, Hydrography]
- EUDEM © Produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union [Terrain]
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA [Terrain Light]
- SRTM © NASA [Terrain]
- GTOPO30 Data available from the U.S. Geological Survey [Terrain Light, Terrain]
- CleanTOPO2 public domain [Terrain]
- GEBCO © GEBCO [Terrain Light]
- GlobCover © ESA [Terrain]
- Sentinel-2 - Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016, 2017, & 2018 [Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 & 2018]
- Blue Marble © NASA’s Earth Observatory [Blue Marble]
- Black Marble © NASA’s Earth Observatory [Black Marble]
The rendering is © EOX [Terrain Light, Terrain, Sentinel-2 cloudless, OpenStreetMap, Overlay, Bright overlay, Coastline, Hydrography, Streets] and MapServer [OpenStreetMap, Overlay, Bright overlay].
Changelog
- 20210212: Added Copernicus DEM accessible via WCS to replace ACE2.
- 20190122: Added Sentinel-2 cloudless 2018, hydrography, and streets layers.
- 20171205: Added Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 and Coastline layers.
- 20171201: Migrated to improved hardware and adjusted SLA. Removed Shibboleth configuration.
- 20170609: Added dem.esa.maps.eox.at, deprecating tiles.esa.maps.eox.at/dem.
- 20170425: Added Terrain Light layer.
- 20170419: Migrating certificates to Let's Encrypt.
- 20160614: Updated certificates, valid until 20190530.
- 20150626: Updated certificates to a fully SHA256 chain. Some adjustments to Apache configuration.
- 20140908: Finished Shibboleth configuration.
- 20140901: Added EPSG:3857 projection where missing.
- 20140802: Finished update of OSM layers fixing missing characters problem.
- 20140728: Updated overlay layers to include curved labels and fixing some issues.
- 20140724: Deployed new overlay layers including coastlines, political borders, rives & lakes, and various bug fixes.
- 20140722: Added elevation data.
- 20140627: New SSL/TLS certificate for esa.maps.eox.at, tiles.esa.maps.eox.at, and *.tiles.esa.maps.eox.at.
- 20140527: First release including layers terrain, overlay, overlay_bright, blackmarble, bluemarble version 1.0.0 in EPSG:4326 and osm version 1.0.0 in both EPSG:4326 and EPSG:3857.
Contact
Do you have any questions? Do you need more information? Feel free to contact us anytime.
Thurngasse 8/4
1090 Wien
Austria