NASA's Earth Science Data and Information Systems (ESDIS) Standards Coordination Office (ESCO) conducts reviews of proposed standards, practices, and technical information relevant to the ESDIS mission. Documents are reviewed as part of the ESDIS Project's standards process. Approved documents are published and listed on the Standards Requirements and References page.

ESCO is conducting a review of Cloud Optimized GeoTiff (COG) File Format 

This document designates the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) file format as a standard for NASA Earth science data systems. COG is an extension of the mature, well-established, and heavily used GeoTIFF file format, accepted as a NASA standard in 2019.  The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) approved version 1.0 of the OGC Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF Standard in July 2023.   Also following the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) published as official OGC Standard in October 2023.  Support for COG is growing in the geospatial software community and usage within NASA is starting as well.

You are invited to review the document in the context of your experience with Earth science data, for its suitability for operational use.  A clear understanding of both the advantages and limitations of this format are necessary to best serve these end user communities.  

If approved, these recommendations will serve as a NASA Convention (i.e. a specification in common use among some members of the NASA ESDS community).

If you or your team member can review this document, please send names, email addresses, and Earthdata login usernames to esco-staff@lists.nasa.gov.  The ECSO Staff will add your names as reviewers in the Jama system.  You may also send any questions about the review to the ESCO staff at esco-staff@lists.nasa.gov.

All review comments are due by January 19, 2024

Review Instructions

The role of the ESDIS Standards Coordination Office (ESCO) is to conduct a review of this document by soliciting comments from a cross section of the Earth Science community.

Reviewers are invited to read the document and provide feedback to help us improve the document.  We also invite you to answer the review questions at the end of the document. ESCO recognizes that not all reviewers will be familiar with all of the content of the document.  Reviewers are welcome to review only those parts of the document that they have experience with.  You only need to answer questions applicable to you.  Additional comments are welcome.

ESDIS uses the Jama online document review system to collect community comments on proposed standards, practices and technical information submitted to ESCO for review. 

Preferred Method: Jama

  1. Read and provide comments about the document via Jama here:
  2. For more details on using Jama, see the information at the bottom of this page.

Alternative Method: Word/Email

Offline reviews, where you download the document and review questions, then respond via email, are also accepted.

  1. Download the document:
  2. Use the Track Changes tool in Microsoft Word to mark suggested changes or make comments.
  3. Provide additional feedback by answering the review questions at the end of the document.
  4. Alternatively, if there aren't too many comments, you can submit your review responses in an email.
  5. Send your feedback to the ESCO at esco-staff@lists.nasa.gov

Additional instructions for Jama reviewers

The benefit of using the Jama system is that you can easily comment on specific portions of the document and can see comments provided by others.

If you already have access to the NASA Earthdata Jama system, please contact ESCO at esco-staff@lists.nasa.gov and let us know your Earthdata Login username so we can add to this review. Once you are registered, you will receive an email from Jama with instructions on how to access the review. Use your Earthdata Login username and password to log in to Jama.

Access to Jama

If you do not already have a Jama account but wish to use the Jama system, you can request an account at the Earthdata Service Desk - select JAMA/RMS as the productivity tool, View/Read as the access level, and say that you wish to participate in this review as the reason for access. Alternatively, you may email the ESCO staff at esco-staff@lists.nasa.gov for help in creating a Jama account.

You will need an Earthdata Login account to access Jama.   Earthdata Login account creation and username/password recovery can be done at http://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov/.

Jama Resources

A short Jama Guide for Reviewers


NOTE: Information on this page is subject to change.

Thank you!