library(terra)
                #Change to the raster url you want to read in. 
                cog <- rast(" /vsicurl/https://merklelab.s3.arcc.uwyo.edu/Landcover_NLCD/NLCD_2008_Landcover.tif")
                       plot(cog)
    
                library(raster)
                #Change to the raster url you want to read in.
                       obj<- raster("/vsicurl/https://merklelab.s3.arcc.uwyo.edu/Landcover_NLCD/NLCD_2008_Landcover.tif")
                plot(obj)
              
            

We have also developed an R function to read all geospatial layers in the S3 bucket. After running the bucket() function, it returns a dataframe of the URLS and other metadata for each geospatial layer. Please explore our MerkleLabGIS R package for other functions that might be helpful to your project.

              
                library(devtools)
                devtools::install_github("jmerkle1/MerkleLabGIS")
                library(MerkleLabGIS)
                dt <- bucket()

                #Create a stack of rasters of interest
                rap <- dt[dt$Category == "Landcover_RAP",]
                data =  rap[1:2,]
                rs<- terra::rast(paste0("/vsicurl/",data$url))

              
            

QGIS

Raster Data (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF)

You can read a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) in QGIS - streaming straight from its online location instead of downloading it. First you will need to find a COG of interest.

• Navigate to the Map Viewer tab and explore avaialble Geotiff files. Use the "Copy Raster URL" button once you've found the raster of interest. This will copy the link you need to your clipboard. You can paste this into a scratch pad document to use later, or you can just not copy anything else and use it in our next step in QGIS.
• Open QGIS 3.2 or later
• Naviagte to the data source manager within QGIS. This provides an interface for a variety of data sources. In the Data source manager Browser choose the 'Raster' dialog and select 'Protocol: HTTP(S), cloud, etc.'. In the protocol dialog, select Type 'HTTP/HTTPS/FTP' and paste the URL from the link location.
• Click 'Add' and when the COG is loaded into QGIS, close the Data source manager.

This looks about the same as downloading and using a GeoTIFF locally. But the power of the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF becomes apparent when you zoom in. On fast connections it should take less than a second to redraw, at full resolutions. The advantage of using the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF is that you can zoom to anywhere within seconds, instead of waiting for a huge GeoTIFF to download.

Vector Data

You can also read vector data directly into QGIS without downloading any files. First you will need to find a vector dataset of interest.

• Navigate to the Map Viewer tab and explore available vector datasets. Use the "Copy Geojson URL" button once you've found the dataset of interest. This will copy the URL to your clipboard.
• Open QGIS 3.2 or later
• Navigate to the data source manager within QGIS. In the Data Source Manager, choose the source type as 'Protocol: HTTP(s), cloud, etc.'.
• Paste the URL into the URI box. Click 'OK'.

ArcGIS Pro

Raster Data (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF)

You can read a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) in ArcGIS Pro - streaming straight from its online location instead of downloading it. First you will need to find a COG of interest.

• Navigate to the Map Viewer tab and explore avaialble COGs. Use the "Copy Raster URL" button once you've found the raster of interest. This will copy the link you need to your clipboard.
• Download the python tool box here and unzip to your computer.
• Open ArcGIS Pro
• From the ribbon tab in ArcGIS Pro, click the Insert tab. In the Project group, click Toolbox and click Add Toolbox.
• Browse to and select the downloaded .pyt script from step 2.The toolbox should now appear in the Toolboxes folder in the Catalog pane.
• Double click on the script "Add COG" from the Toolbox.
• Paste the URL from step 1 into the COG URL field and click Run.

Vector Data

Since most of the vector data is hosted on ArcGIS Online, adding it to ArcGIS Pro is straightforward. First you will need to find a vector dataset of interest.

• Navigate to the Map Viewer tab and explore available vector datasets. Use the "Copy ArcGIS URL" button once you've found the dataset of interest. This will copy the ArcGIS Online feature service URL to your clipboard.
• Open ArcGIS Pro
• On the Map tab in the ribbon, click 'Add Data'.
• In the Add Data dialog, select 'Data From Path' from the left-hand panel. Paste the feature service URL from step 1 into the path field and click 'Add'.
• The vector layer will be added directly to your map from ArcGIS Online.

Because vector data is already hosted on ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro can connect to it natively with no additional tools or plugins required. The data streams directly into your map and supports full querying, symbolization, and analysis capabilities.