COG + STAC Isn’t a Stack. It’s a Contract.

For a long time, we told ourselves a comforting lie: “ It’s just a file.” The file lived in a folder. The folder lived on a server. The name of the file basically told you what it was. And if it didn’t, you could always ask the person who created it. Which, of course, worked great — right up until it didn’t. COG and STAC didn’t emerge because the geospatial community suddenly discovered better…