Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024

Miriam Mabeya Petr Ševčík Joachim Ungar Karolína Lehotská
eoxmaps eoxcloudless maps sentinel-2 s2cloudless eo-data earth-observation

We are excited to announce the release of EOxCloudless 2024, our latest update to the Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery collection. This year's dataset brings enhanced clarity, improved consistency, and a more seamless visual experience for all your mapping and geospatial needs.

Accessing Sentinel-2 data under the Copernicus program has become increasingly challenging for large-scale processes, especially due to its cloud-covered nature and the extensive effort required for cloud removal. EOxCloudless addresses these challenges by providing cloud-free data and streamlining large-scale processing, making the maps easier to use for visualization, academic and scientific research, flight simulator background or as visually pleasing basemaps in your applications.

To explore the latest annual mosaic, please visit s2maps.eu. (opens new window)

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. Airport in Doha, Qatar

# A Thorough Look at What's Different in the EOxCloudless 2024

The main improvement was to rewrite and fine-tune the BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) correction. A BRDF correction adjusts satellite imagery for variations in surface reflectance caused by differences in viewing and illumination angles. This ensures more consistent and comparable reflectance values across images taken at different times, angles, or sensor positions. Without this correction, the Sentinel-2 data stripes are visible when zooming out the map.

Previously, the HLS Normalization (opens new window) was used for the whole globe. While in general this improved the visual quality substantially (as can be seen in the difference between 2019 (opens new window) and 2020 (opens new window) releases) but still left some visible stripes over tropical regions as well as larger deserts. For our 2024 dataset an approach was adopted based on region and pixel classification increases or decreases the weight of the BRDF correction. This is now prominently visible over the Amazonas as well as the Saraha desert.

A further improvement made this year was to review and update the combination of masks used to weed out undesired pixels. Previously most of the regions still relied on the Level-1C masks due to the fact that initially, Level-2A masks did not show satisfying results. Meanwhile, ESA improved their Sentinel-2 processing pipeline (opens new window) and EOxCloudless can now benefit from these improvements.

Let’s zoom in to a few scenes to explore what has changed since the EOxCloudless 2023.

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024 (left) vs. 2023 (right). Sahara Desert
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024 (left) vs. 2023 (right). Vienna, Austria
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024 (left) vs. 2023 (right). Brasilia, Brazil
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024 (left) vs. 2023 (right). Nairobi, Kenya

# Why Buy the EOxCloudless 2024?

With the most recent version, you’ll get a cleaner, more accurate, and visually improved satellite imagery dataset, making it more reliable for mapping, analysis, and visualization tasks. Below are some of the compelling reasons why you should update your dataset:

  1. Enhanced Visual Clarity Significantly reduced striping artifacts, especially in regions like deserts. Maps are looking smoother, cleaner and more professional. There are no more distracting patterns or inconsistencies across different terrains therefore making this a more reliable data.
  2. Maintained Color Accuracy Colors in our imagery always closely resembles true-to-life landscapes. We have mantained this in this release to ensure that greens, browns, blues, and other natural tones appear as they should providing a more realistic representation of vegetation, water bodies, and urban areas.
  3. Stay Up to Date Keeping your geospatial data current is crucial, especially in industries like Agriculture or Environmental Monitoring. By upgrading your dataset you ensure that your analysis and decision making are based on the lastest EOxCloudless 2024.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. Desert in Libya

# How to Buy the EOxCloudless 2024?

If you are considering satellite imagery, then getting started with EOxCloudless is quite simple.

We offer flexible solutions tailored to different needs ensuring you find the right fit for your specific requirements. Whether you need ready-to-use data or a custom solution, we've got you covered:

  1. You can purchase our products directly via cloudless.eox.at (opens new window) by clicking BUY NOW button.
  2. Explore our free samples and documention to ensure our delivery formats match your needs.
  3. Need assistance or a custom solution? Reach out to us anytime via: cloudless@eox.at. Get started today and experience the power of cloud-free imagery!
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. 'Panda' Powerplant Dahong, China

# Looking into the Future

The development of the 2025 release is already underway, promising a host of significant enhancements, including an optimized processing chain and upgraded data storage infrastructure. These improvements aim to deliver an even more refined and seamless EOxCloudless experience for our customers.

As we look ahead and broaden our horizons, we warmly invite you to join us at upcoming space industry events around the world:

Look for the EOX staff at these events and don't miss out on this opportunity to chat with us and inquire about what EOX can offer you. Want to schedule a meeting with us? Let us know at cloudless@eox.at in advance.

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. Lake Disappointment, Australia

# Have you tried EO-Guesser?

EO-Guesser is a game for all who want to challenge their knowledge of Earth. Do you love staring at satellite images? Then try EO-Guesser. (opens new window)

Every day you’ll be placed on a different place on Earth and your goal is to guess the place where you are. Have fun and don’t forget to share your results on social media!

Finally, if you are looking for a nice screensaver to watch while on a coffee break, click "Explore" and then the "Tour" button at the bottom left of https://s2maps.eu (opens new window) and enjoy the ride.

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. Fort McMurray, Canada
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2024. Delta Amacuro State, Venezuela

# License

The 2016 version is provided for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (opens new window) (CC BY 4.0), the 2018 - 2024 versions under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License (opens new window) (CC BY-NS-SA 4.0).

The required attribution is

It shall include the links as given here in on-line usage.

For commercial usage we offer the data (opens new window) under the EOX Commercial Attribution-RestrictedUse 1.1 License (opens new window) which is based on CC BY. The main change over CC BY is that EOX reserves the right to provide the data with this license. You're entirely free to use it in your services and products, you just can't transfer this license to your users. Usage examples include a WMTS you provide under your name or a product you sell that bundles the data for offline usage.

The EOX WMTS (opens new window) and EOX WMS (opens new window) are free and open to use for non-commercial applications given that when publishing the corresponding attribution (opens new window) is provided in the publication.

Miriam Mabeya, EOX IT Services GmbH Email: miriam.mabeya@eox.at

Petr Ševčík, EOX IT Services GmbH Email: petr.sevcik@eox.at

Joachim Ungar, EOX IT Services GmbH Email: joachim.ungar@eox.at

Karolína Lehotská, EOX IT Services GmbH Email: karolina.lehotska@eox.at

Contains Modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data 2016-2024.

# Contact Information

Please contact Miriam Mabeya miriam.mabeya@eox.at for sales or Petr Sevcik petr.sevcik@eox.at for any technical matters.

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