The Centre for Earth Observation (CEO): an initiative of the European Commission to promote the use and availability of Earth observation data

The European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed with their member states to establish a co-ordinated, decentralised Earth observation network, the European Earth Observation System (EEOS). The EC contribution to this is the Centre for Earth Observation (CEO) programme. The objective of the CEO is to promote the use of Earth observation data and services and to facilitate interaction between providers of these data and services and their customers. The CEO will be driven by user requirements. It will be decentralised in its approach. It will pay due regard to and take advantage of existing and planned institutions, infrastructure and projects. It will also be designed to evolve and adopt flexibility. This paper outlines the status and objectives of the CEO Project, and proposes a concept for the CEO.