Summary

Earthdata Search uses a "reductive workflow" to search, discovery, and data access. This means that users use a set of filters (spatial/temporal/manual-exclusion/etc...) to down-select to a set of granules and then download what remains. This was an intentional design decision at the outset of the project. This differs entirely from the since-retired data discovery tool Reverb. Reverb used an "additive workflow". This means that users added individual (or multiple) granules to a shopping cart and downloaded those items.

The idea for Earthdata Search is to implement a solution for the additive workflow that can coexist with the reductive workflow. This will require some UI/UX work so that it is very clear to users what they are able to do and how their actions impact their project.

Benefits

The main benefit is that there will be multiple "golden paths" by which users can take to download data. Our metrics show that users overwhelmingly download individual granules one at a time. By implementing the additive workflow we can make it easier and more efficient to download individual granules from the same collection. Implementing this workflow will also go a long ways to bridging the gap from Reverb to Earthdata Search for users that still hold onto the Reverb days.

Approach

The high level plan to work up a set of interactive wireframes that would show how various granule actions would work, how those actions are confirmed with the user, how those actions can be undone, and how a user would move forward to the download stage. Once those interactive wireframes are approved, we would be able to move forward with implementation of the additive workflow.

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