Acceptable use policy

TESSERA Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

TESSERA provides open access to global satellite-derived temporal embeddings to advance scientific research and support environmental monitoring, conservation, sustainable agriculture, and understanding of Earth systems. This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) outlines appropriate use of the TESSERA system and data.

Permitted Uses

TESSERA is designed to support:

• Scientific research and education
• Environmental monitoring and conservation
• Agricultural and food security analysis
• Climate change research and adaptation planning
• Sustainable land use and resource management
• Public interest applications that benefit society and the environment

Prohibited Uses

Users may not use TESSERA or its data for:

• Surveillance or privacy violations: Monitoring individuals, groups, or private activities without consent
• Military targeting or offensive operations: Identifying targets for attacks or supporting hostile military actions
• Malicious activities: Supporting illegal activities, including unauthorized resource extraction, poaching, or environmental crimes
• Harassment or discrimination: Targeting communities or individuals based on protected characteristics
• Misleading applications: Misrepresenting data accuracy, resolution, or temporal characteristics
• Commercial surveillance: Unauthorized monitoring of competitors or private entities
• Any unlawful purpose: Activities that violate applicable local, national, or international laws

Responsibilities

Users agree to:

• Use TESSERA data responsibly and ethically
• Properly cite TESSERA in any publications or presentations using the data
• Acknowledge the temporal (annual) and spatial (10m) resolution limitations
• Report any suspected misuse to the TESSERA team
• Respect the privacy and rights of affected communities when working with location-specific data

TESSERA team commits to:

• Maintaining data quality and documentation
• Responding to reports of misuse
• Updating this policy as needed based on community feedback
• Supporting legitimate research and conservation applications

Data Characteristics and Limitations

Users should understand that TESSERA provides: - Annual temporal resolution (not suitable for real-time monitoring) - 10-meter spatial resolution - Spectral-temporal embeddings (not raw imagery) Users should not misrepresent these characteristics or the capabilities of the system.

Enforcement

We reserve the right to: - Investigate reports of policy violations - Implement technical measures to prevent misuse if necessary - Modify access arrangements in response to demonstrated misuse - Update this policy to address emerging concerns

Attribution

When using TESSERA, please cite our paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20380

Contact

For questions about appropriate use or to report concerns: S. Keshav: sk818@cam.ac.uk

Updates

This policy may be updated periodically. Continued use constitutes acceptance of the current policy.

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Last updated: [Date] Last updated: [October 1, 2025]