Introduction
============

This is the User Guide of the View Server (VS). The intended readers are users
of the web client shown below and external services provided by the View Server.

These provided external services are services for searching, viewing, and
downloading of Earth Observation (EO) data. Service endpoints optimized for
performance as well as for flexibility are provided alongside each other.

.. figure:: images/webclient_start.*
   :alt: Web Client

   *Web Client*

Continue reading to understand the details of the provided :ref:`webclient`.

Available production deployments of the VS referencing data from Copernicus Space Component Data Access (CSCDA) are on:

* `VHR IMAGE 2018: https://sso.vhr18.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.vhr18.pass.copernicus.eu>`_ 
* `Emergency https://sso.emg.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.emg.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `Copernicus DEM Open https://sso.demf.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.demf.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `Copernicus DEM Restricted https://sso.dem.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.dem.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `Frontex Emergency https://sso.frtx-emg.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.frtx-emg.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `SatCen Emergency https://sso.sace-emg.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.sace-emg.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `Csea Emergency https://sso.csea-emg.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.csea-emg.pass.copernicus.eu>`_
* `VHR IMAGE 2015 https://sso.vhr15.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.vhr15.pass.copernicus.eu>`_ 
* `VHR1-2 Urban Atlas 2012 https://sso.ua2012.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.ua2012.pass.copernicus.eu>`_ 
* `DWH_MG2_CORE_01 - Optical HR Pan EU Coverages (Image2012) https://sso.core12.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.core12.pass.copernicus.eu>`_ 
* `DWH_MG2_CORE_02 - Optical HR Pan EU coverages (Image2006 and Image2009) https://sso.core09.pass.copernicus.eu <https://sso.core09.pass.copernicus.eu>`_ 

.. _authpasswarning:

Authentication
--------------

Authentication/Authorization to the PASS production deployments is linked to the main authentication 
framework of CSCDA and both systems share login sessions, the user needs to log in just once.

Note that the used authentication system of CSCDA is based on SAML protocol, which at the moment
of writing this text is not supported for authentication by modern GIS browsers (QGIS 3.x, ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro).