# Access Vantor (Maxar) Open Data

Earthscale makes it easy to access data from Vantor's (formerly Maxar) [Open Data Program](https://vantor.com/company/open-data-program/). This program provides high-resolution satellite imagery captured before and after humanitarian crises, with a focus on disaster response.

With Earthscale you can:

* Visualize this data alongside other datasets in your catalog
* Reproject imagery to align with your desired coordinate system and pixel grid
* Export only the data you need to your local machine

## Exploring available data

You can browse available datasets through Maxar's [STAC catalog](https://radiantearth.github.io/stac-browser/#/external/maxar-opendata.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/events/catalog.json?.language=en).

The data is hosted on the AWS [Registry of Open Data](https://registry.opendata.aws/maxar-open-data/). To explore what's available using the AWS CLI:

```
aws s3 ls --no-sign-request s3://maxar-opendata/
```

## Understanding the file structure

Files are organized in this pattern:

```
s3://maxar-opendata/events/{EVENT}/ard/{ZOOM}/{TILE_COORDS}/{DATE}/{SCENE_ID}-{PRODUCT}.tif
```

For example:

```
s3://maxar-opendata/events/HurricaneHelene-Oct24/ard/17/031311010113/2024-10-06/104001009C0CE600-visual.tif
```

Where:

* `HurricaneHelene-Oct24` - Event collection name
* `ard` - Analysis-Ready Data (pre-processed)
* `17` - Web Mercator zoom level (higher = more detail, smaller coverage)
* `031311010113` - Slippy map tile coordinates at zoom 17
* `2024-10-06` - Image acquisition date
* `104001009C0CE600-visual.tif` - Scene ID + product type

**Available product types:**

* `-visual.tif` - RGB composite (recommended for visualization)
* `-ms.tif` - Multispectral imagery (RGB + NIR bands)
* `-pan.tif` - Panchromatic (high-resolution grayscale)
* `-cloud-mask.gpkg` - Cloud locations as vector polygons

## Adding the data to Earthscale

This example shows how to add RGB imagery from Hurricane Helene (October 2024). The result will be a raster mosaic time series that stitches together tiles across multiple acquisitions.

**Steps:**

1. In Earthscale, click **Add New Dataset** and select the **Cloud Source** tab
2. Paste a URL pattern using wildcards to match all files:

```
   s3://maxar-opendata/events/HurricaneHelene-Oct24/ard/17/*/*/*-visual.tif
```

3. Wait a few seconds while Earthscale scans the files
4. Rename the dataset to something meaningful (e.g., "Hurricane Helene")
5. Expand the **Filename Date Pattern** option and set it to: `%Y-%m-%d` This tells Earthscale that dates in the file path follow the pattern `YYYY-MM-DD`
6. Click to register the dataset. It may take a minute to parse through the files.

The dataset will appear on your map. Zoom in to view the imagery. Note that coverage varies by location and date.

{% hint style="info" %}
For multispectral data (`-ms.tif`), before and after imagery may come from different sensors. If sensor consistency matters for your analysis, load acquisitions as separate datasets.
{% endhint %}

Once it finishes, the dataset should appear on your map. Zoom in to view the data. Note that not all areas have data for all times.

## Exporting the data

1. Select the **Export** tab in the top bar
2. Define your area of interest (AOI) by either:
   * Drawing a bounding box on the map
   * Selecting bounds from an uploaded vector dataset (e.g., administrative boundaries)
3. Adjust the bounding box size or resolution if needed to meet your account tier's export size limits
4. Configure export settings:
   * Spatial resolution
   * Coordinate reference system (CRS)
   * Optional: Align to match an existing dataset in your catalog (simplifies downstream analysis)
5. Click the export button and wait for processing to complete
6. Download your cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs as a zip file

## License

This data is provided under **Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0)**.

**You must:**

* Provide attribution to Maxar with a link to their license
* Use the data only for non-commercial purposes

**You cannot:**

* Use this data for commercial purposes
* Redistribute it through commercial platforms or services

For commercial use cases, contact Maxar directly about licensing options.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.earthscale.ai/tutorials/access-vantor-maxar-open-data.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.