Cloud-based Geospatial Analysis

Recent development in both hardware and software infrastructure have given big push and new direction to geospatial data processing capabilities. Scalable and afforable geospatial data analysis available through a) open-source systems that allow computing clusters on commodity hardware, b) proprietary cloud-based data storage and computing services. However, it is challenging to choose the right solution(s) depending on the nature of geospatial (big) data and the analysis needs. This presentation discuss the needs and provides information on existing cloud computing service and platforms, which can serve these needs. Main characteristics and potential benefits of cloud computing are described, and suggestions are provided for better use of cloud resources to move research to the cloud.