Can any two tiles (item ids) have same datetime. Tiles are geographically adjacent

[bhanuPrakash]

We have a use case where we want to use Process API and get clipped images from single tile(s) for a geometry of interest i.e, all pixels should be from a single item ( feature or tile or item - using interchangeably here).

We are okay with partial images in cases where geometry of interest not completely lie in a item.

We know that Process API is not meant to be used like this, but I observed that if we give a exact timestamp as the input to Process API, it gives all pixels from a single item.

We are planning to achieve this by using catalog API to get all intersecting item ids for geometry of interest and use the timestamps in those items (features) and call the Process API.

But we are not sure if two adjacent items can have the same datetime value. I observed that they have 1-2 seconds difference and if this is the case for all tiles we are happy.

Thanks!

[william.ray]

Hi, thanks for the question. In your use case, it is very unlikely that two adjacent items will have the same datetime value. In theory the sensing time can be exactly the same as the time recorded on the image file depends on the slicing of the orbit into individual scenes, and it might happen that this cutoff happens at the same time (not likely, but possible).

Hope this answer helps you out.