What is COG (Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF)?

Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) is a format for georeferenced raster data optimized for efficient access and processing in cloud environments. The main idea of COG is to store data in the GeoTIFF format with an internal structure that allows reading only the necessary parts of the file without loading the entire file.

Features of COG:

• Uses internal data organization with tiles and pyramid levels (overviews).
• Supports HTTP range requests, enabling loading only the required bytes of the file.
• Ideal for streaming and processing large geospatial data in the cloud.

It is used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and machine learning for working with large raster datasets without the need to download the entire file.