Skip to content

Digital Twins and EDEN service: MEEO’s contribution to the Destination Earth initiative

MEEO (Meteorological Environmental Earth Observation), founded in 2004, is a company specialized in the development of products and services based on remote sensing of the Earth-Atmosphere system. Among its innovations stands out the use of Digital Twins (DT), detailed models that replicate physical processes of the planet using real-time updated data. In this regard, the company participates in the Destination Earth (DestinE) project, which aims to create a precise digital replica of the Earth to address environmental challenges, simulate extreme events, and support the decision-making of governments and researchers. MEEO’s role is to power the data workflow services with EDEN, that facilitates access to DT data through catalogs, APIs, and data transformation tools, thus improving the efficiency of geospatial data analysis and management. MEEO therefore contributes to the ecological and digital transition by providing innovative solutions to monitor and predict natural and human phenomena. 

Metereological Envirolental Earth Observation (MEEO), born in 2004, is a privately-held company dedicated to the development and implementation of products and services based on remote sensing of the Earth-Atmosphere system. MEEO provides a wide range of “ready” (off-the-shelf) services and products based on the analysis of multispectral, multisensor, and multitemporal satellite data, with application areas ranging from agriculture to marine monitoring, and even cultural heritage.

An innovative aspect within the company’s fields of operation is the access and use of digital twins (DT), highly detailed models that replicate physical objects, systems, or processes of our planet, thanks to the integration of real-time, constantly updated data. Their role is central today in improving the ability to monitor and predict environmental and climatic changes, allowing simulations, for instance, of the impact of extreme events such as floods, fires, or droughts, and evaluating mitigation strategies before the real events occur.

In the DT domain, MEEO is part of the consortium working on the development of the Destination Earth (DestinE) Platform, the entry point for users to the Digital Twin data and all the services and applications. The goal of DestinE is to develop a highly accurate and detailed on a local scale digital twin of the Earth, capable of addressing today’s environmental challenges. The model enables the monitoring and simulation of natural and anthropogenic phenomena, anticipate environmental threats and resulting socio-economic crises, and test more sustainable scenarios, supporting the decision-making process of public authorities, researchers, and companies. In this context, DestinE Platform is crucial in enabling users to quickly access the DT data.

MEEO’s role is to power the data workflow services with EDEN, which provides both machine-to-machine and user-friendly interfaces to discover and access DestinE datasets, regardless of the type of data and its location.

Specifically, it offers the following features to end users:

  • Data catalog and search, that allows users to discover the DestinE data offer and search for geospatial data from Data Lake and Federated data sources.
  • Data access and retrieval, through which users can access and download data through various methods:
  • APIs that provide data in a harmonized (standardized) format.
  • OGC services, including OpenSearch, Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS), facilitating the geospatial data exploitation.
  • native APIs for cloud storage, such as Simple Storage Service (S3), allowing retrieval of data stored on cloud platforms.
  • Data cache management, that allows users to quickly access previously retrieved data.
  • Data transformation, that improve data usability by converting them into analysis-ready data formats for use on cloud-native platforms.

In conclusion, MEEO’s involvement in projects like DestinE demonstrates the company’s commitment to provide innovative solutions that enhance the ability to monitor, analyze, and predict natural and human phenomena. Through digitalization and the creation of interoperable platforms and services, MEEO contributes not only to the ecological transition but also to the digital one, offering decision-makers essential tools and data to tackle an increasingly complex and dynamic world.