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Dynamic software components for your project

The APEx Project Tools are designed to provide managed, configurable environments that support the collaboration, development, exploration, and visualisation of application project results. These tools are crucial for facilitating the effective sharing, maintenance, and utilisation of project outcomes within the Earth Observation (EO) community, ensuring that they remain readily accessible and usable for extended periods.

APEx aims to cater to the diverse and multifaceted needs of the EO community by delivering Software as a Service (SaaS) products. It manages the delivery of single-user or shared work environments within a unified cloud infrastructure, facilitating a wide range of user tasks, including development, hosting, execution, and exploratory analysis of EO applications.

At the core of the APEx Project Tools is the ability to manage and deliver these environments effectively. Project-wide community-oriented tools, such as the portal, catalogue, documentation portal, and user forum, are managed directly by Kubernetes and typically instantiated once per project. Conversely, single-user-specific workspaces allow the instantiation of tools by a single user at any time. These tools, including the User Workspace, Interactive Development Environment (IDE), and, in certain cases, dashboards and web applications, are managed by JupyterHub. JupyterHub orchestrates the launching and management of these software deployments, ensuring isolated and customisable environments for individual users.

A key feature of the APEx Project Tools is the ability to provide managed, configurable environments. These environments can be tailored to the specific needs of different projects and users, supporting various tasks, including development, hosting, execution, and exploratory analysis of EO applications. This flexibility and configurability allow these projects to focus on their primary research objectives without being bogged down by the technical complexities of setting up and maintaining their workspaces.

Another critical component of the APEx Instantiation Services is the seamless integration with the ESA’s Network of Resources (NoR). The focus is on developing new tools, which are those that do not currently exist in the NoR. These new tools are to be developed and onboarded into the NoR, making them available as payable services. For tools components that already exist, such as the ELLIP IDE, the goal is to integrate these existing services. The technical challenge lies in achieving seamless integration and alignment of business models, ensuring that newly developed and existing services work harmoniously within the APEx.

The specific components of the APEx Project Tools include:

The APEx Project Tools will be essential for ensuring that the results of EO projects are effectively shared and utilised, fostering greater collaboration and innovation within the EO community. By providing robust, scalable, and user-friendly environments, the APEx Project Tools help maximise the impact of EO research and applications.