Glossary¶
This page is a reference for CoRE Stack terms, common request fields, spectral indices, and raster band vocabulary. It will grow into a broader field and layer dictionary over time.
Core CoRE Stack Terms¶
- MWS
- Micro-Watershed. A small watershed unit used for planning, hydrology, and reporting.
- LULC
- Land Use Land Cover. A classification of how land is being used and what physically covers it.
- SWB
- Surface Water Body. A mapped pond, tank, lake, or related water feature.
- STAC
- SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog. A standard way to describe and discover geospatial assets and metadata.
- GEE
- Google Earth Engine. A cloud platform for large-scale geospatial analysis.
- GeoServer
- A server used to publish geospatial layers and services such as WMS and WFS.
- JWT
- JSON Web Token. A signed bearer token used for authenticated API access.
- API key
- A simpler credential, often sent as
X-API-Key, for selected public data routes. - Local-First
- A mode or design goal where users can inspect, fetch, and process data locally instead of depending entirely on cloud execution.
Common Request and Dataset Fields¶
These are starter meanings for fields that appear repeatedly across current docs and API examples.
| Field | Meaning | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
state |
State name | spatial filtering and task submission |
district |
District name | spatial filtering and task submission |
tehsil or block |
Tehsil, sub-district or block name | public data queries and layer discovery |
latitude |
North-south coordinate | point-based lookup routes |
longitude |
East-west coordinate | point-based lookup routes |
start_year |
first year in an analysis window | temporal compute jobs |
end_year |
last year in an analysis window | temporal compute jobs |
gee_account_id |
backend-side Earth Engine account reference | GEE-backed computations |
layer_url |
a published layer endpoint or derived layer link | map consumption and download flows |
geojson_path |
stored path or JSON reference to geometry data | projects and vector outputs |
app_type |
project application domain, such as watershed |
project and organization workflows |
Note
This is not yet a full schema dictionary for every layer. We will extend this section with field-by-field layer and dataset tables as those references are stabilized.
Geospatial Concepts¶
- Raster
- A grid of pixels or cells, where each cell stores a value such as reflectance, elevation, or class.
- Vector
- Geometry-based data represented as points, lines, or polygons.
- CRS
- Coordinate Reference System. Defines how coordinates map onto the earth.
- EPSG code
- A standard numeric identifier for a CRS, such as
EPSG:4326. - DEM
- Digital Elevation Model. A raster representing elevation.
- Spectral index
- A derived value computed from one or more raster bands to highlight a property such as vegetation vigor or water.
- False color composite
- An image where displayed colors do not match natural human vision, often used to emphasize vegetation or moisture.
- Runoff
- Water that flows across land after rainfall instead of infiltrating into the soil.
- Evapotranspiration
- Combined water loss from soil evaporation and plant transpiration.
Common Spectral Indices¶
| Index | Formula | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
NDVI |
(NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red) |
vegetation vigor and greenness |
NDWI |
(Green - NIR) / (Green + NIR) |
open water detection |
MNDWI |
(Green - SWIR) / (Green + SWIR) |
water extraction in built-up or noisy scenes |
EVI |
2.5 * (NIR - Red) / (NIR + 6*Red - 7.5*Blue + 1) |
vegetation monitoring in dense canopies |
NDBI |
(SWIR - NIR) / (SWIR + NIR) |
built-up area highlighting |
Common Raster Band Definitions¶
| Band family | What it often helps show |
|---|---|
| Blue | haze, shallow water, sediment, coastal features |
| Green | vegetation reflectance, water visibility, visual interpretation |
| Red | chlorophyll absorption, vegetation contrast |
| NIR | biomass, vegetation health, land-water separation |
| SWIR1 | moisture, soil and vegetation water content |
| SWIR2 | dryness, burn scars, mineral and moisture contrasts |
Common Sensor Band Mappings¶
| Spectral region | Sentinel-2 | Landsat 8/9 |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | B2 |
B2 |
| Green | B3 |
B3 |
| Red | B4 |
B4 |
| NIR | B8 |
B5 |
| SWIR1 | B11 |
B6 |
| SWIR2 | B12 |
B7 |