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GET /api/sentinel2/search Searches the Microsoft Planetary Computer STAC API for the most recent Sentinel-2 L2A scene covering the given point. Returns scene metadata, cloud cover percentage, a thumbnail URL, and a full-resolution link.
Rate limit: 30 requests per minute per IP.

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Caching

Results are cached for 1 hour keyed on a 0.02° grid (approximately 2 km). Repeated requests within the same grid cell return immediately from the cache.

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Data source

Imagery is retrieved from the Microsoft Planetary Computer STAC catalog (sentinel-2-l2a collection). The search window is the last 30 days with a cloud cover filter of less than 30%.

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Query parameters

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lat
number
required
Latitude in decimal degrees (−90 to 90).
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lng
number
required
Longitude in decimal degrees (−180 to 180).

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Response

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found
boolean
required
true if a qualifying scene was found, false otherwise.
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scene_id
string
Unique STAC item ID for the scene. Present only when found is true.
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datetime
string
ISO 8601 capture timestamp of the scene.
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cloud_cover
number
Cloud cover percentage at time of capture (0–100).
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thumbnail_url
string
URL of the scene thumbnail. Suitable for display in a map popup.
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fullres_url
string
URL of the full-resolution rendered preview PNG. Opens in the browser or a GIS tool.
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bbox
number[]
Bounding box of the scene as [west, south, east, north].
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platform
string
Satellite platform identifier (e.g. "Sentinel-2A" or "Sentinel-2B").
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message
string
Human-readable reason when found is false (e.g. "No clear scenes in last 30 days").
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error
string
Error detail when the search failed due to a dependency or network issue.

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Example

curl "http://localhost:8000/api/sentinel2/search?lat=48.8566&lng=2.3522"

{
  "found": true,
  "scene_id": "S2B_MSIL2A_20240112T104229_R008_T31UDQ_20240112T130142",
  "datetime": "2024-01-12T10:42:29+00:00",
  "cloud_cover": 4.7,
  "thumbnail_url": "https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/api/data/v1/item/map?collection=sentinel-2-l2a&item=S2B_MSIL2A...",
  "fullres_url": "https://sentinel2l2a01.blob.core.windows.net/sentinel2-l2a/31/U/DQ/.../TCI_10m.tif",
  "bbox": [1.7, 48.5, 3.1, 49.4],
  "platform": "Sentinel-2B"
}

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