Test Queries

A test is a job that does not perform any type of data retrieval or processing: in consists solely in looking for data.

Not all blocks support test queries. To be supported in a block the data source — an API from the upstream data provider usually — must support it. In simple terms we can state that all data sources that provide a search functionality, in principle, support test queries. Examples of such are the data blocks that rely on the Airbus OneAtlas API (e.g., Pléiades download) and the ESA sponsored Data and Information Access Service (DIAS) Sobloo (e.g., Sentinel 1 GRD L1C).

A test query does not consume any credits. It is an implementation of a dry-run for a job.

In a test query no AOI size limits are enforced: you can specify a very large AOI. Bear in mind that you will not be able to use very large AOIs in a non test query job. Large AOIs are allowed only for data discovery. To be able to use large AOIs in a non test query job context you must contact sales.

Price estimation using test queries

Addiionaly test queries can also function as a data price estimation mechanism. The price of a data source can be estimated by multiplying the number of tiles, in the case of tile based pricing — e.g., Pléiades streaming and SPOT streaming. The expected number of tiles can be obtained by looking at the logs for the data task. See the log excerpt below.

"totalResults": 32, "startIndex": 0, "itemsPerPage": 100}
2020-02-24 15:09:28,842 - pleiades - DEBUG - Search gave 28 results
2020-02-24 15:09:28,842 - apiutils.oneatlas - DEBUG - Now downloading quicklook
2020-02-24 15:09:28,842 - apiutils.oneatlas - DEBUG - GET, https://access.foundation.api.oneatlas.airbus.com/api/v1/items/573f7a1e-a7ab-4d7e-9ae9-cd16af30f87d/quicklook

2020-02-24 15:09:29,454 - pleiades - DEBUG - Found 1416 potential tiles in image 573f7a1e-a7ab-4d7e-9ae9-cd16af30f87d...
2020-02-24 15:09:29,638 - apiutils.oneatlas - INFO - Estimated credits for this job with 1416 tiles: 4248

In this case 1416 tiles will be returned and the estimated cost is 4248 credits for retrieving this image.

For data sources with an area based pricing (km:superscript:2) we can compute the area of the image footprint (enclosing polygon of the image to be retrieved) and multiply it by the base price. The Pleiades download and SPOT. See the following log excerpt:

48ad-b835-b0b4b72a5625", "workspaceName": "public", "workspaceTitle": "Public"}, "tilesNumber": 12, "type": "Feature"}
2020-02-10 13:30:28,695 - pleiades - INFO - ==================================================================
2020-02-10 13:30:28,695 - pleiades - INFO - Estimated credits for this job: 36
2020-02-10 13:30:28,695 - pleiades - INFO - ==================================================================

2020-02-10 13:30:28,695 - pleiades - DEBUG - Saving 1 result features to data.json

The estimated cost for the image to be retrieved is 36 credits.

Specifying a test query using the UP42 console

If using the UI you can quickly switch from Live Job to Test Query by simply toggling the the radio button between each position: Live Job/Test Query. By default Test Query is selected.

Specifying a test query on the API

When you create a job you can specify the job mode. By default the job is set to DEFAULT, i.e., run a live job. In that case it can be left out of the job parameters. However to specify a test query it needs to be explictly set in the job parameters. Below we have example of that.

{
  "config": {
    "mode": "DRY_RUN" // specifying the mode for a test query
  },
  "superresolution:1": {},
  "oneatlas-pleiades-aoiclipped:1": {
    "ids": null,
    "bbox": [
      31.036455784924332,
      -29.852033178700534,
      31.039807666093118,
      -29.848887367235484
    ],
    "time": "2020-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/2020-12-31T23:59:59+00:00",
    "limit": 1,
    "zoom_level": 18,
    "time_series": null,
    "max_cloud_cover": 100,
    "panchromatic_band": false
  }
}

The field config has the object with the field mode set to DRY_RUN. This is how a test query is specified via the API.