BigEarthNet GDF Builder

A package to generate and extend BigEarthNet GeoDataFrames.

This library provides a collection of functions to generate and extend GeoDataFrames for the BigEarthNet dataset.

bigearthnet_gdf_builder tries to accomplish two goals:

1. Easily generate geopandas GeoDataFrame's by passing a BigEarthNet archive directory.
   • Allow for easy top-level statistical analysis of the data in a familiar pandas-style
   • Provide functions to enrich GeoDataFrames with often required BigEarthNet metadata (like the season or country of the patch)
2. Simplify the building procedure by providing a command-line interface with reproducible results

One of the primary purposes of the dataset is to allow deep learning researchers and practitioners to train their models on the recommended BigEarthNet satellite data. In that regard, there is a general recommendation to drop patches that are covered by seasonal snow or clouds/shadows. Also, the novel 19-class nomenclature should be preferred over the original 43-class nomenclature. As a result of these recommendations, some patches have to be excluded from the original raw BigEarthNet dataset that is provided at BigEarthNet.

To simplify the procedure of pre-converting the JSON metadata files, the library provides a single command that will generate a recommended GeoDataFrame with extra metadata (country/season data of each patch) while dropping all patches that are not recommended for deep learning research. Functions for both archives, BEN-S1 and BEN-S2, are provided.