Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Overview
2. Save the Dates
3. Website and Community Engagement
4. Participant Registration
5. Forming a Project Team
6. The Challenges
7. Project Submission
8. Judging and Awards
9. NEW: Important Recommendations Regarding Raw Data, “End Products”/Solutions, and EO Dashboard Integration

Last Updated: 28 June 2021

What is the Earth Observation (EO) Dashboard Hackathon?

The EO Dashboard Hackathon is a week-long virtual hackathon that will take place from June 23-29, 2021. It is co-sponsored by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (the European Space Agency), and JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The purpose of the hackathon is to raise global awareness of the Earth Observing Dashboard - an interactive data resource created by NASA, ESA, and JAXA in May of 2020. The Dashboard gives the public and policymakers a unique tool to probe the short-term and long-term impacts of pandemic-related restrictions implemented around the world through the lens of Earth observation satellites.

During the hackathon, participants will form teams and solve challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic using open data from the Dashboard and other relevant sources --- and help tell the story of the Dashboard itself.

The hackathon celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Dashboard’s launch as well as the collaboration between these three agencies in a time of crisis. The hackathon builds on the success of the Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge, which was held in May 2020.

Read the NASA press release here.

Is the hackathon an all-virtual event?

Yes. In light of the continued COVID-19 pandemic and in the interest of our global community’s health and safety, this hackathon event will be an all-virtual event. All activities will take place on eodashboardhackathon.org. Through the website, participants will be able to meet teammates and create their teams; talk with other participants and space agency experts in our online chat rooms; and submit their projects. Our hope is that this all-virtual format can bring people together across borders and inspire innovation.

Who should participate in the EO Dashboard Hackathon?

All passionate problem solvers are encouraged to join -- coders, experts, engineers, designers, artists, storytellers, students, and Earth and space enthusiasts. While some of our challenges are technical, others ask you to use your storytelling abilities. Even if you have never “hacked’ before, consider joining a team and using your particular skills to enhance your team’s submission.

As you’re building your team, consider the different roles that people will play and keep in mind that most diverse teams are often the most successful.

If I still have questions after reading this FAQ, what should I do?

You will likely still have questions after reading this FAQ, so please take time to peruse the guides on our Resources page, which provide additional information about how to access the chat platform, how to form teams and submit projects, what to expect in terms of judging and awards, and more.

During the hackathon (June 23-29), members of the hackathon organizing team will available in the chat rooms to answer your questions and point you to the correct resources.

If you still have questions, please contact info@eodashboardhackathon.org, and we'll get back you!

What should I do if experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or any form of bullying during the hackathon?

If you experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or any form of bullying during the hackathon, or have any other concerns, please contact the hackathon organizing team at info@eodashboardhackathon.org. The organizing team will take appropriate action, which may include warning or expelling the offending participant from the event.

What are the most important dates and times for the EO Dashboard Hackathon?

The EO Dashboard Hackathon is a week-long hackathon taking place on June 23-29th. It will start on June 23 at 9:00AM (local time) and end on June 29 at 11:59PM (local time). However, there are other important dates, below.

Now: Get prepared

• Start following news about the EO Dashboard Hackathon on eodashboardhackathon.org and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Share your excitement and stories from your hackathon journey using #EODashHack
• Familiarize yourself with the Earth Observing Dashboard. All of the challenges will be geared toward getting you and your team engaged with the incredible Earth observation resources from NASA, ESA, and JAXA located on the Dashboard.

May 20: Register now for the hackathon and start checking your communications

• Visit eodashboardhackathon.org to officially register to participate in the hackathon. Bring your friends and family along with you!
• Once you register, you will start receiving messages from the hackathon organizing team through our online communications portal located on the "My Account" section on the website. Check your communications frequently for updates and news about the launching of challenges, Virtual Bootcamp Videos, etc.!

June 1: Browse challenge statements and data resources

• All challenge statements and data resources will go live on eodashboardhackathon.org. Start thinking about which challenge you want to tackle!
• Check out the Data Resources Guide on eodashboardhackathon.org/about/ for an overview of many of the data resources available to you for the different challenges.

June (ongoing): Prepare yourself with the Virtual Bootcamp and other Guides

• Watch videos and tutorials about the EO Dashboard Hackathon on our YouTube playlist. Fulfill your curiosity and learn valuable insights that will prepare you for your hackathon experience!
• Peruse all of the guides available to you on eodashboardhackathon.org/about/.

June 23 at 9:00AM (local time): The hackathon begins!

• Log onto eodashboardhackathon.org to begin your hackathon journey!
• Once the hackathon begins, you will be able to do the following through our website:
  • Create or find a team
  • Access the chat rooms
  • Submit your project
• After the hackathon begins, we know you’ll be working with your team tirelessly to create your solution. Don’t forget to take breaks, stay hydrated, and balance your hard work with fun!

June 25, 9:00AM (local time) to June 27, 9:00PM (local time): Chat with space agency experts

• During these times, experts from NASA, ESA, and JAXA will be available in the chat rooms to answer questions about the challenges and data and to provide guidance on developing elements of your solution. Don’t miss out!

June 29th at 11:59 PM (local time): The hackathon ends!

• Project submission closes at this time. Make sure that your project is submitted on eodashboardhackathon.org by the deadline! Projects should submitted in accordance with the local time of the person who created your team (colloquially known as the "Team Lead").
• Pat yourself on the back for making it through the hackathon! What an achievement!

July and August 2021: NASA, ESA, and JAXA experts select winners

• Experts from NASA, ESA, and JAXA will evaluate the projects and select the winners.
• Your team will be notified via social media and email if you’ve been selected as finalists or winners. Best of luck!

Where can I find the latest information?

You can find the following guides on eodashboardhackathon.org/about/.

• Data Resources Guide
• Dashboard Background and Technical Integration Guide
• Chat Guide
• Team Formation Guide
• Project Submission Guide
• Judging and Awards Guide

What social media is used for the EO Dashboard Hackathon??

NASA Earth Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are three of the primary channels we use to connect with the global hackathon community. The official hashtag for the event is #EODashHack. For updates, please follow us on social media.

What is the “Virtual Bootcamp”?

Starting in June, please tune into our Virtual Bootcamp YouTube site to access exclusive content from NASA, ESA, and JAXA to help prepare you for your EO Dashboard Hackathon journey. Guests will provide introductions to the challenges and relevant tutorials and tips. This is a wonderful opportunity to tap into the broader hackathon community. We will send a message to all registered participants once the first Virtual Bootcamp video launches. You can then subscribe to the YouTube channel and turn on notifications to be the first to see our Virtual Bootcamp resources.

What is the chat? Can I meet people there?

In our chat rooms, you will be able to connect with members of the community who will be able to support your journey. You will access the chat rooms through the eodashboardhackahon.org website.

Throughout the entire hackathon -- from June 23-29 -- you will be able to chat with other participants in our online chat rooms as well as with hackathon organizers.

From June 25 at 9:00AM (local time) to June 27 at 9:00PM (local time), you will also have the opportunity to chat with experts from NASA, ESA, and JAXA in our dedicated “challenge chat channels.” (Each challenge will have its own channel.) Please come prepared with questions about the challenges and the data, as well as with advice you’re looking to receive about your project submission.

See theChat Guide on eodashboardhackathon.org for additional information and instructions.

When does registration open and close?

Participant registration for the EO Dashboard Hackathon will open on May 20th and extend through the end of the hackathon on June 29, 2021 at 11:59PM.

While participant registration will be open until the hackathon officially ends, we encourage all participants to create accounts and register as soon as possible in order to receive the latest communications. Please note that you must be registered in order to join the chat rooms, form/join teams, and submit projects on eodashboardhackathon.org.

How do I register?

Registration for the EO Dashboard Hackathon event requires two steps:

• Sign up for an account online at eodashboardhackathon.org/auth/signup/ and verify your email address.
• Register for a region at eodashboardhackathon.org/locations/. You must be registered for a region — not just signed up with an account — to participate in the hackathon.

See this video tutorial for step-by-step instructions on how to register.

Which region should I register for?

We have regions to make it easier for participants to find other potential teammates who may be located in a similar time zone or speak the same language. During the hackathon, each region will have a dedicated chat channel that will connect members of that region to other members. For these reasons, we suggest that participants choose a region based on their location -- or at least with these factors in mind.

That said, you are welcome to join any region. You can change your region at any time in the "My Account" section of the website by selecting "change" next to your region.

Teams themselves can be made up of participants from one region or from many regions. You may eventually choose to join a team that is tied to another region because you like their projects idea. Or you may choose to invite people from other regions to join your team because you need their skills. For judging purposes, the region with which you or your team is associated does not matter. All of the projects will go through the exact same judging review.

Is the registration individual or by team?

Participants register on eodashboardhackathon.org as individuals, not as teams. (Forming your team is a separate process, which is also done through the website. Please see below.)

What is the minimum age for participants?

To register for the hackathon, all participants are required to agree to the following Participant Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. The Participant Terms and Conditions contains the following language:

“Participants who are under the age of 18 are required to be registered for the event by a parent or legal guardian and must be accompanied during the event at all times by a parent or legal guardian.”

In the past, I participated in the NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Can I use the same account for the EO Dashboard Hackathon?

No. You must create a new account for the EO Dashboard Hackathon.

See the Team Formation Guide on eodashboardhackathon.org for more information.

Do I need a team?

An individual is allowed to work and submit a project independently. However, we encourage all attendees to be part of a team.

We have found that the most successful solutions come from teams of individuals with diverse skill sets and backgrounds. If participants come from a non-technical background, we encourage them to connect with developers, designers, and people with scientific backgrounds to form a team.

How many members should a team have?

The sweet spot for teams is typically 4 to 5 people. If a team gets too big, it can be difficult for the team to focus; if it is too small, the team may not have all the skills/knowledge needed to solve a challenge. Please note that the limit for a team is 6 people.

When are teams formed?

Participants will be able to register their teams on eodashboardhackathon.org when the hackathon begins on June 23 at 9:00AM (local time.) You may add members to your team until the hackathon closes on June 29 at 11:59PM (local time).

Does it matter who on my team officially registers the team?

One person from each team is responsible for registering the team. That person is colloquially known as the “Team Lead.” Please note that the team will be associated with the regional location of the Team Lead, meaning that the team will appear on the regional location page associated with the Team Lead. The regional location to which a team is tied will have no impact on the way the project is judged or by whom it is judged.

How do I find teammates?

We encourage you to invite your friends and community members along to participate. But you will also be able to find teammates through our virtual platform.

When the hackathon begins on June 29 at 9:00 AM (local time), you will be able to chat with other participants in the chat rooms, including potential teammates.

In addition to forming your own team, you will also be able to search for and request to join an existing team! Detailed information about this process can be found in the Team Formation Guide,.

Can I remove someone from my team, leave a team, or delete my team entirely?

You cannot remove other members from the team once they have joined. But any user can leave a team by selecting the "Leave Team" option at the bottom of the Team Members tab on the team page.

In order to delete a team entirely, all team members must select the "Leave Team" option on the Team Members tab of the team page.

NASA, ESA, and JAXA personnel have developed the challenges for the EO Dashboard Hackathon based on their extensive work on the Earth Observing Dashboard. The challenges encompass the following topics and encourage our community of artists, storytellers, coders, scientists, designers, engineers, and others to get creative and develop out-of-this-world solutions!

Find a challenge that suits your skills or interests, build a team, get started hacking!

What topics will the challenges cover?

All of the challenges are designed to get you engaged with the Earth Observing Dashboard. While some of the challenges will be technical in nature, others will ask you to use your creative storytelling abilities. In particular, the challenges will focus on the following indicators of COVID-19:

• Water quality
• Economic impact
• Agricultural impact
• Greenhouse gas
• Interconnected Earth system impact
• Social impact

When and where will the challenges be published?

On June 1, the challenges will be published on /challenges/. (When the challenges are released, we will send a message to all registered participants.)

Can people start working on the challenges as soon as they are published?

We appreciate the enthusiasm of participants who want to start as early as possible, but we ask that participants start the actual work when the hackathon begins on June 23, 2021 at 9AM (local time).

What if I have questions about one of the challenges or datasets?

If you have questions about the challenges or resources, subject-matter experts from NASA, ESA, and JAXA will be available in our chat channels from June 25 at 9AM (local time) to June 27 at 9PM (local time). They will be ready to engage with your questions! Each challenge will have a dedicated chat channel.

Hackathon organizers will also be in the chat channels starting on June 23 at 9:00AM (local time). Although they are not subject-matter experts in the challenge content and data, they will be able to provide more general support.

Can I translate the challenges?

Please feel free to translate the challenges into your native languages for you and/or your teammates. If you do, we encourage you to share the translation with us.

Can teams work on more than one challenge?

Participants and teams are encouraged to focus on one challenge and one solution, as the hackathon only lasts one week. If your team feels that your solution is relevant to multiple challenges, please choose the challenge that is most aligned with your project.

Is it possible for a team to come up with their own project, or is it mandatory to pick one of the challenges?

For the EO Dashboard Hackathon, your project must respond to one of the official challenges.

For critical information about how project submission requirements, please see the Project Submission Guide and Dashboard Technical Background and Integration Guide on /about/.

How are projects/solutions submitted?

Every team (whether you are working individually or with teammates) will need to create a project page on eodashboardhackathon.org to describe their work. All teams will be answering the same set of questions in relation to their project.

We encourage teams to create their project page as soon as the hackathon begins and to add information as the week progresses. All members of a team must be registered for the hackathon and identified on their team’s project page.

What is expected in my project submission?

Additional details regarding project submission requirements are outlined in the Project Submission Guide.

At minimum, your project must respond to one of the official Earth Observation Dashboard Hackathon challenge statements and clearly show how the data resources provided with the challenge were integrated into your project. Please also read the Dashboard Technical Background and Integration Guide to ensure that your project can be successfully integrated into the Earth Observing Dashboard.

All projects must be submitted on the website by 11:59PM on June 29 (local time), in accordance with the time zone of the person who registered your team.

Please see the Judging and Awards Guide on /about/ for more information.

Will everyone who participates in the hackathon receive a certificate?

Yes, everyone who participates in the hackathon will receive an individual certificate of participation (regardless of whether your team wins an award).

Will the EO Dashboard Hackathon have winners and awards?

While the main purpose of the hackathon is to encourage collaboration and problem solving, the hackathon will have winners and awards. All Global Award Winners will be invited to attend a NASA mission launch when travel is deemed safe again.* Furthermore, some Global Awards will be accompanied by additional rewards from ESA and JAXA, including opportunities to integrate winning solutions into the EO Dashboard, and/or to upscale solutions using EuroDataCube, and/or to access additional data and computing resources, and/or to visit a Science Hub in Rome, Italy.

*Global Winners will be responsible for their own travel costs, and winning teams may conduct fundraising to support their trip.

What are the Global Awards for EO Dashboard Hackathon?

The five Global Awards are as follows:

• Open Science Award: The solution that best demonstrates the use of open science principles, which includes transparency, inclusion, accessibility and reproducibility.
• Outreach Award: The solution that most creatively communicates the storytelling power of the Dashboard.
• Data Award: The solution that maximizes the use of Earth observation data and leverages it to a unique application.
• Technology Award: The solution that develops an innovative technical approach and is equipped for integration into the Dashboard.
• Impact Award: The solution with the most potential to advance our knowledge of effects of pandemic using EO data.

Additional awards will be given by ESA and JAXA to the Global Winner(s) that most effectively use ESA data and JAXA ALOS-2 data.

The Judging and Awards Guide has additional information about the rewards, judging criteria, and judging process.

I am having trouble finding raw data to process in theData Resources Guide and in the EO Dashboard. What should I do?

Go to the Data Resources Guide (eodashboardhackathon.org/about/) and start by creating a free EuroDataCube (EDC) account. You can register for a free account here. Complete the form, accept the Terms and Conditions, and click the “Participate” button. Please be patient after registering while your workspace is being tailored for the hackathon. You will get a notification via email once it is available. *Please note: Do NOT create an account from the public EuroDataCube site because it will not be tailored to the hackathon. In particular, it will not have the hackathon resources available. The Dashboard Technical Background and Integration Guide, which can be found on eodashboardhackathon.org/about/, provides additional instructions.

Once you have an account, you may use the Euro Data Cube resources, such as the JupyterLab Workspace. In the EDC JupyterLab Workspace, the different EDC resources can be accessed from the Launcher page. Participants will have access to a series of Tutorial Notebooks to get started with the EDC and learn how to access the different Earth observation data and indicators, as well as how to generate simple maps and graphs similar to those showcased on https://EODashboard.org.

Can I use data other than what is found on the challenge resource tab or in the EO Dashboard?

As long as your team uses some data from the Dashboard, you are welcome to add new outside data.

What kind of “end product” or solution should I be producing for my project?

The characteristics of your “end product” or solution will depend on the particular challenge you are solving, so please pay close attention to the description on the challenge page. You may also find additional details about what is expected in the challenge video for your challenge, all of which are located here.

Your end product could take a number of forms. It could simply fetch data, perform some clever processing -- potentially integrating or correlating it with some additional data -- and/or propose the results as a new indicator. If you plan to demonstrate a new indicator for a limited area or time period, you should also show how this indicator might be scaled to more places or even globally (and over longer time periods), including continuous updates. While you are welcome to propose new indicators, you may also choose to focus on improving the functionality of the Dashboard, for example by combining existing indicators in a clever way. Please also see the questions below.

Please be sure to include a publicly available and easily accessible link to your solution (whether it's a web application, a document, a video, a notebook, etc.) on your project page in a prominent place.

What do you mean when you indicate that some solutions might be “ready for integration” into the EO Dashboard?

While there are no requirements for what form your final product must take, please keep in mind that one aim of the hackathon is to identify ideas and solutions that could be integrated in the EO Dashboard. Thus, participants may wish to create a Jupyter Notebook or other web application in order to show that their projects could be easily integrated into the EO Dashboard after the hackathon ends. Teams should provide links to any code repositories or documentation in the section on their project page that says, “Describe how your solution could be integrated into the Earth Observing Dashboard (include links to source code and documentation, if applicable). Please note, however, that it is not a requirement that the solution you develop during the hackathon be ready for integration or already integrated. The integration step would come after the hackathon and will be done with the support from the Dashboard technical team to scale it and to integrate it in the Dashboard.

The Dashboard Technical Background and Integration Guide (/about/) provides additional information, including how the software powering the Dashboard can be run locally to test and verify the integration of new indicators. Being Open Source, the Dashboard software could potentially even be extended to support new functionalities that might be required for new indicators.

Is the “demo” required for project submission different from the “end product” or solution?

Yes. The demo you create (the 30 second video or 7 slides that is required as part of the project submission process) is not the actual “end product” itself. The demo is a high-level summary of your project (that the judges will review), where you can tell people what you did, how you did, and showcase a preview of your “end product.” Upload your "demo" to a public site and provide a link in the section on the project page where you are asked to "Demonstrate your solution."

Please see the Project Submission Guide (eodashboardhackathon.org/about/) for details on how to submit your project on the website.

Is it necessary to code in Vue.js and Python for Dashboard integration purposes? Are there any specific language requirements?
Vue.js and Python are mentioned in the Dashboard Technical Background and Integration Guide (/about/) because the Dashboard itself is implemented using Vue.js. As an example, if you want to extend the Dashboard software itself, that would be done in Vue.js. The Euro Data Cube has provided a JupyterLab environment to host and run Python notebooks. However, this hackathon does not require the use of Vue.js, Python, or any specific coding language.  The participants are welcome to use any coding languages they are capable of.