Customize OBIWAN through its API

Tutorial Objectives

  1. Demonstrate how straightforward it is to ask the OBIWAN API for commonly needed estimates in forest carbon accounting, including biomass for a point in time, biomass change between two points in time, and biomass change compared to a baseline period or area
  2. Introduce OBIWAN API options for creating baseline carbon change scenarios either using the same place in different points in time or the same point in time for different places

The colab notebook built for this tutorial focuses on forest carbon accounting for areas you may select in the state of Alabama. You will need a Google identify to open it, and you will need to save it upon opening to your own Google Drive if you wish to save any changes you may make.

The notebook offers two pathways.

  1. You may simply click the right-facing triangle in every section to see what the code does. This option lets you explore OBIWAN API’s capabilities without getting your hands too dirty. The code is visible, but you don’t need to understand it; there are slider bars and map tools for non-coders.
  2. The code is a launching pad for developers. The embedded code represents python calls to OBIWAN API, as well as commands to display what OBIWAN API returns. These calls model needed syntax and inputs, and provide examples that developers can modify as they build dashboards or data systems that meet local needs.

Tutorial Overview

Customize OBIWAN through its API

  • Example dashboard (Nepal)
  • Comparing carbon gains to business-as-usual scenarios
  • Calling the OBIWAN API

README

Descriptions of the main functions in the documentation for the OBIWAN API.

Tutorial Demo

Healey, S., & Yang, Z. (2025, September 11). Introduction to GEDI Biomass inference and OBIWAN Biomass Change reporting. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17101653

Now run-through the entire process yourself:

Tutorial for OBIWAN API in the state of Alabama

  • You can download the file, then upload it to your drive to open from there or,
  • Type: “tocolab” after “github” in the url

Curtosy of EarthRISE at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Lab for Applied Scienecs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville