Meta and the World Resources Institute have released a global canopy height map with a resolution of 1 meter, marking a significant advancement for forest monitoring and terrestrial biodiversity management. Although it’s impressive to view these data online, many professionals and enthusiasts may wish to work directly with this data on their local systems. Below, we explain how to download these valuable data using the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI).
Step 1: Installing AWS CLI
For Windows users, although the process is similar on other operating systems:
- Visit the AWS CLI website to download the appropriate installer for your operating system at AWS CLI.
- For Windows, use this direct link to download: AWS CLI for Windows.
- Follow the instructions to install the software on your computer.
Step 2: Accessing AWS CLI Resources
- Open the Terminal: This can be done by navigating to the folder where you will store the data, right-clicking, and selecting ‘Open in Terminal’. Alternatively, you can access it via the Start menu by searching for ‘cmd’ or ‘command prompt’.
- Navigate to the desired directory using the
cdcommand, for example,cd E:\AWS. - Access the resources using the following AWS CLI command (no AWS account required):
aws s3 ls --no-sign-request s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/
Step 3: Listing the Available Data
To explore the data available in a specific directory, such as alsgedi_global_v6_float:
aws s3 ls s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/ --no-sign-request | Select-Object -First 10
To access a specific subdirectory such as chm, simply add the path to the previous command:
aws s3 ls s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/chm/ --no-sign-request | Select-Object -First 10
Step 4: Downloading the Data
To download a complete dataset, such as alsgedi_global_v6_float, use the following command, which will start copying the data to your local directory:
aws s3 cp s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/ . --recursive --no-sign-request
It is also crucial to download the tile index file, which allows identification of the exact location corresponding to each downloaded image. This facilitates efficient organization and use of the data in subsequent applications and analyses:
aws s3 cp --no-sign-request s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/tiles.geojson tiles.geojson
Once downloaded, the files are ready to be opened and utilized in any GIS application, such as QGIS or ArcGIS, allowing for advanced manipulation and analysis.
Thanks for the concise tutorial. But how do I download a specific tile.I have the tile.geojson, but I am not sure how to find the number/code of the tile I am interested in.
Thank you in advance!
Hi Siki
You can use the code to download the tiles you want just change the numbers to the tile you want.
aws s3 cp –no-sign-request s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/chm/311003100.tif 311003100.tif
Thank you for your detailed teaching, but I still cannot download the data of a single piece, for example: 132123231.tif.
After entering and executing, only “Unknown options: 132123231.tif” appears.
The entered statement is “aws s3 cp –no-sign-request s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/chm/132123231.tif 132123231.tif”
Could you please give me some guidance? Thank you.
Hi, thanks for the useful crib-sheet. I downloaded the tiles.geojson and used QGIS to display the label of the tiles I am interested in over my area of interest but the command still doesn’t work
I get a different error message when I try to use aws s3 cp –no-sign-request s3://dataforgood-fb-data/forests/v1/alsgedi_global_v6_float/chm/tile_number.tif
The user-provided path –no-sign-request does not exist.
The tile_number is the label I see from tiles.geojson.
Please would you advise? Does this mean that I have to sign up to AWS account from now on?