Earthdata Search: Methods for Improving Data Discovery, Visualization, and Access

In a landscape of heterogeneous data from diverse sources and disciplines, producing useful tools poses a significant challenge. NASA's Earthdata Search application tackles this challenge, enabling discovery and inter-comparison of data across the wide array of scientific disciplines that use NASA Earth observation data. During this talk, we will give a brief overview of the application, and then share our approach for understanding and satisfying the needs of users from several disparate scientific communities.

Our approach involves:

- Gathering fine-grained metrics to understand user behavior - Using metrics to quantify user success - Combining metrics, feedback, and user research to understand user needs - Applying professional design toward addressing user needs - Using metrics and A/B testing to evaluate the viability of changes - Providing enhanced features for services to promote adoption - Encouraging good metadata quality and soliciting feedback for metadata issues - Open sourcing the application and its components to allow it to serve more users