The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) have long since recognised the need for a more harmonised way of working with Earth Observation data.  This necessity was becoming more widely felt as the WGCV sought to respond to a set of tasks laid down by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in its bid to develop a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

CEOS and GEO decided to team up to bring the community together in Geneva in October 2007 to talk about how EO calibration and validation (Cal/Val) could be better managed and how the user community could be assured of the data’s quality.  The workshop’s fruitful discussions established the need for a set of guiding principles for Earth Observation data. A subsequent workshop held in Gaithersburg in May 2008 began the process of establishing an operational framework. 

It was decided to formulate a Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation data (QA4EO) that facilitates interoperability between different types of data sources and providers. This framework would also go further in providing the means for all stakeholders within the GEO community to assess the adequacy and "fitness for purpose" of a received data product on receipt without the need for further evaluation. The result should be Earth Observation data that is quality assured and reliable, an essential element in any policy and decision making.