How to Open My SkyWatch Products

All complete SkyWatch orders return the following standard products:

Visual Image File - A .png image, that can be opened without further analysis

Metadata File - A JSON file containing the associated metadata for an image

COG- Cloud Optimized GeoTiff File - A georeferenced, and can be used for further customization or analysis in GIS software.

AOI File - A json copy of the AOI polygon that intersects the delivered product.

This article covers the steps of how to open the COG (.tif), using QGIS, an open source GIS software for displaying such images. You can also open COG files on ESRI ArcPro or other GIS software you have available.

Note: COG files are BIGTIFF formats and are NOT supported by image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

The visual PNG file is a rendered RGB image. This file type can be opened on any image preview software preinstalled on Mac and PC devices.

The metadata format is a JSON text file. Text file reader software such as TextEdit (Mac) and Notepad (PC) can open this file.

1. Download the .tif file by clicking on the Download -> Metadata -> Download

2. (If Not Already Installed) Install QGIS software: https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html

3. Open QGIS and load the downloaded .tif file (drag & drop the .tif file into QGIS):

4. Reorder the layers, so the Google Satellite layer is below the .tif image:

5. The image should be visibly and automatically georeferenced on top of the Google Satellite basemap, ready for any further analysis. Multiple .tif files can be displayed at the same time if necessary.

6. A COG will have the image bands ordered following the suppliers settings. You will need to open the COG files symbology (right click on the file in the Layers box, select Properties, and go to Symbology). There, you can change what bands are active in the Red, Green, and Blue fields.

To review the original band order for all SkyWatch products, open the Metadata json file on any text reading software. Go to the "bands" section in the metadata. The order of the bands in the metadata reflects that order you are seeing in the COG file.

Example of the Bands in Metadata

A .JSON file of the polygon that intersects the delivered product. This will match the AOI polygon the user submitted when the order was created.

Note: If the AOI .JSON appears different to what the user submitted, we refer the user to check the preview of the product they ordered on EXPLORE. The SkyWatch system only delivered the AOI coordinates that intersect the product. If part of the product did not cover the AOI, then only that part of the AOI intersection will be delivered.