Open Data STAC: Find and access geospatial research datasets easily

In line with Open Science practices and FAIR principles, researchers increasingly publish geospatial datasets through general-purpose research data repositories such as Zenodo and Figshare. However, these repositories often lack mechanisms to effectively utilize the rich spatiotemporal metadata contained in geospatial data files. Metadata is typically entered manually and limited to textual descriptions, reducing data findability, accessibility, and interoperability. Open Data STAC addresses this challenge by automatically detecting geospatial datasets published in major repositories and generating standardized, open-access spatiotemporal metadata catalogs based on the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) specification. Using protocols such as OAI-PMH and repository-specific APIs, datasets are identified through file type analysis and metadata extraction. Extracted spatial and temporal information is combined with repository metadata to create structured STAC items and collections, which are continuously updated in an open catalog. When permitted, cloud-native versions of datasets are also made available to enhance interoperability and accessibility. The project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Science Fund, is operated by the Centre of Expertise in Big Geodata Science and powered by the Fairly toolset. Through Open Data STAC, geospatial research data becomes more visible, searchable, and usable, bridging the gap between general research repositories and domain-specific geospatial infrastructures.