Arlula APIs

The Arlula API gives you programmatic access to satellite imagery. You can search for imagery, order it, manage your orders and download the data, and you can build automated applications on top of these steps.

The API has three groups of endpoints, each covering a different stage of working with imagery: archive imagery, tasking new captures, and managing and downloading what you have ordered. This documentation explains each group and its endpoints. General information on authentication, connection testing and the changelog is at the end of this page.

API groups

Archive API

Use the Archive API to search for and buy imagery that has already been captured.

  • Search: returns a list of archive imagery that matches your search criteria.
  • Scene Details: returns the details of a scene.
  • Quote: obtain pricing information for the given scene and ordering combination.
  • Order: orders one or more scenes for procurement.

Tasking API

Use the Tasking API to check when new imagery can be captured and to order those captures.

  • Search: returns a list of possible capture opportunities for a target location, time period and set of conditions.
  • Feasibility: returns a specific opportunity set.
  • Quote: obtain pricing information for the given capability and ordering combination.
  • Order: confirms and books a set of tasking opportunities for acquisition.

Orders API

Use the Orders API to manage and download your past and current orders.

  • List Orders: lists all past and current orders on your account.
  • List Campaigns: lists all past and current tasking campaigns on your account.
  • List Datasets: lists all datasets available on your account.
  • Get Order: returns the details of an order and any associated campaigns and datasets.
  • Get Campaign: returns the details of a campaign and any associated datasets.
  • Get Dataset: returns the details of a dataset and the resources available for retrieval.
  • Download Resource: requests a download of a resource associated with a dataset, such as the imagery or its metadata.

Authentication

Every request to the API must include your API credentials in the request header.

  • Credentials: you authenticate with an API Key and an API Secret. To get credentials, create an API account in the Arlula dashboard.
  • Method: send your API Key and API Secret using HTTP Basic Authentication.
  • Transport: all requests must be made over HTTPS. All endpoints are relative to the base URL https://api.arlula.com.

Connection testing

The /api/test endpoint only checks your authentication and does nothing else. Use it to confirm your setup is working before you make real requests.

Changelog

  • Migrated Tasking API to new STAC based design for all users

  • Migrated Orders API to new STAC based design for all users

  • Migrated Archive API to new STAC based design for all users

  • Released preliminary STAC API version to beta users

  • Released proposal of API overhaul to STAC based workflow to beta users

  • prototype processing & workflow API to beta users

  • prototype monitoring API available to beta users

  • restructure of ordering API (maintaining legacy endpoints for compatibility) to distinguish orders, campaigns and datasets at point of retrieval

  • tasking results may include selectable opportunities/orbits
  • reseller/platform endpoint variants supported for archive and tasking for hosted satellite operators

  • new thumbnail enablement features for archive
  • new tasking fields to prepare for future updates

  • Tasking API
  • Archive search sort parameter

  • batch archive ordering
  • archive search via POST request
  • collections system

  • support to search by polygon

  • Archive search request res parameter renamed to gsd
  • Archive search response is now object rather than result array
  • Removed archive search result eula and price fields
  • Renamed archive search result field id to orderingID and resolution to gsd
  • Increased polygon arrays to depth 3 for archive search result bounding and overlap.polygon to support complex polygons
  • Added new archive search result fields bands for spectral resolution information, bundles for ordering level selection, and licenses for licensing selection.
  • Deprecated seats as a field on archive order request
  • Added bundleKey in archive order request to select processing level by key
  • Order structure imageryID field renamed to more representative orderingID

  • Added cloud cover archive search filter
  • Added off nadir archive search filter
  • Added offNadir to archive search results
  • Added platform to archive search results
  • Updated resource structure, adding roles, format, size and checksum fields

  • Supplier search filter support
  • Change to ordering ID encoding standard to support future planed features

Added additional server behaviors to enable UI’s binding against the API (internal, version bump for bug tracking)

  • Change in version number format (2020-12 rather than 3.0.0).
  • Coordinates in a point are reversed order to be [long, lat] to be consistent with geoJSON and similar formats as an X, Y format.
  • API account delete functionality.
  • Webhook events now have a wrapper to their payload to support future planned usage
  • MOQ ordering; all searches return an AOI price, increased to the supplier minimum order if it was less than it. This causes several dependent changes:
    • overlap field is always included and includes the polygon that will be ordered
    • overlap.percent is now an object with two fields search and scene
    • price is now a single pricing object that provides the AOI price, scene pricing is no longer provided
    • remove trim as an ordering parameter

Added additional resource types for scene geometry:

  • geo_json for geometry defined in the geoJSON standard
  • geo_kml for geometry defined in Keyhole Markup Language (KML)
  • geo_shp for bundled shapefiles and their metadata (zip file containing shp, shx, dbf and prj files)
  • geo_bundle for geometry of a unknown or miscellaneous format provided by the supplier

Updated order status labels to clarify state (‘manual’ for awaiting supplier non-automated response caused confusion)

Added new resource types:

  • img_jp2 for JPEG Core 200 format imagery, and
  • meta_bundle for aggregated or otherwise bundled metadata

AOI ordering for imagery

Search response structure changed:

  • added sceneID field
  • added annotations
  • field – changed overlap to object with children:
    • area
    • percent
    • polygon
  • Changed price field to include new field aoi which also contains pricing information for AOI order

Order object changes:

  • added trim field

Added signup procedure for non activated accounts

Added SI Imaging as an imagery supplier/vendor.
Backwards compatible updates to request decoding

Internal update for platform update

Initial version of API, supported:

  • search imagery
  • order imagery
  • orders list
  • order get
  • order
  • resource get

Archive API

The Archive API supports data procurement for archival data previously captured, supporting recent state and historical analysis.

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Orders Management API

The Orders API provides an access and management layer for all orders, tasking campaigns and datasets the API account has access to through the platform.

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Tasking API

The Tasking API supports data procurement by assessing the feasibility of, and planning future capture through various suppliers

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