In 2020, we produced the 2020 European Commission Copernicus MOOC in collaboration with many other colleagues and experts in Earth observation, and excellently coordinated by the Competence Center of the University of Luxembourg. During the two on-line editions, more than 9500 people from 169 country registered in the MOOC, demonstrating the large interest in this type of training. Now, the complete MOOC is in open access for everyone who wants to learn about the European Union’s Earth observation programme Copernicus.
The course addresses three key topics in twelve different modules:
- Chapter 1 – Understanding Copernicus data and services– what they are, and how they can be accessed and used
- Module 1 – Introduction to Copernicus
- Module 2: Accessing Copernicus data and services
- Chapter 2 – Learning from success stories – understanding how existing Copernicus-enabled services and applications have been developed and deployed
- Module 3: Renewable energy
- Module 4: Security and Emergency Management
- Module 5: Resource management
- Module 6: Land Use and Management
- Module 7: Air quality, water pollution and ecosystem health monitoring
- Module 8: Combining Copernicus data with other types of data; AI; Machine learning
- Chapter 3 – Doing it yourself – acquiring the key skills and knowledge to develop and deploy Copernicus-enabled products and services and to navigate the Copernicus ecosystem
- Module 9: Ideation – Build up your idea for a Copernicus-enabled product or service
- Module 10: Prototyping – Test and validate your Copernicus-enabled product or service
- Module 11: Developing – Successfully develop your Copernicus-enabled product or service
- Module 12: Collaboration – Working together to develop the next generation of Copernicus-enabled services
All the modules contain plenty of training material: videos, handbooks and additional references.
The course modules are taught in English by internationally-recognised experts and successful practitioners. Different engaging and interactive formats are used during the lessons, from webinars and videos to use cases and projects. The course is built on a user-driven approach aimed at enabling participants to work on their own projects, learn from others, understand the latest trends in situational awareness technologies, and become active members of the Copernicus community.
At the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC Barcelona Tech we contributed to the production of the second module where we presented all the collection of satellites and sensors that constitute the space segment of Copernicus and the different ways to access the data.