The Rise of Data Philanthropy and Open Data in
Support of the 2030 Agenda
Open data – specifically geospatial open data
about our changing planet – plays an essential
role by connecting ideas for global stewardship
and guiding positive human impact. Nowhere is
this more evident than in the area of global
development, where more and more governments,
non-governmental organizations and businesses
are exploring ways to deliver much-needed
imagery, data and related geospatial tools to a
diverse and expanding community of users to
ensure a sustainable future. Whether for food
security, humanitarian response, property rights
or global health, open data is essential for
decision-making and enables the most impactful
response to today’s critical challenges.
With support from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network,
Radiant.Earth provides users of all levels of
sophistication with improved capabilities to
discover, obtain, analyse and integrate imagery
and data, geospatial tools and knowledge.
Topical areas of focus include agriculture, food
security, forestry, conservation, environment,
global development, global health, humanitarian
response, property rights, government
transparency and journalism.
9.1 Introduction
Because of the essential nature of
data for decision-making, a rise in data
philanthropy and open data is taking place on a
global scale. Data philanthropy – where for-profit
businesses provide commercial data to the global
development community free or at reduced cost – is
not a new concept, but a proven one that is
playing a greater role in global development
activities. Perhaps one of the first examples of
this is the DigitalGlobe Foundation that, as noted
in a recent BusinessWire article, is celebrating
10 years of providing commercial high-resolution
data for researchers to solve “issues that impact
the Earth and all its inhabitants.” According to
the Foundation (underwritten by DigitalGlobe,
Inc.), “More than 3,000 imagery grants and
services delivering hundreds of millions of square
kilometers of the Earth valued at more than $14
million have been awarded over 10 years.”
Similarly, Planet has an open call for
college students, researchers and professors to
apply for access to their “one-of-a-kind” datasets
for non-commercial purposes.
Using a
different model entirely, Airbus Defence and Space
makes information available through their Global
Earth Observation Challenge, where entrepreneurs
are asked to pitch business solutions in areas
such as forest management, agriculture, smart
cities and maritime. Selected projects are
provided coaching and data vouchers worth
€20,000-50,000.
Although implemented
differently, the DigitalGlobe, Planet and Airbus
efforts demonstrate how commercial providers are
further evolving this relatively new area of
philanthropy by providing highly valuable imagery
and data at no or little cost, all for the benefit
of advancing its use and applications to meet
today’s most pressing challenges. While these
commercial businesses cannot be expected to always
deliver data for free or at reduced cost, it is
through many of these efforts that use cases are
proven and advances are happening on the ground,
benefiting the industry as well as the broader
development community. As efforts increase to
deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, one can readily see the connection
and importance of data philanthropy to this
endeavour.
Traditional philanthropy is fuelling the rise in
open data, supporting game-changing initiatives
to expand and accelerate its use in the global
development community.
As reported in Reuters earlier this
year, “Some of the world’s most influential
billionaire philanthropists plan to launch a
powerful digital platform to harness the
avalanche of data sent from satellites each day
– and make it freely available for humanitarian
and environmental causes.” The digital platform
to which the article refers is Radiant.Earth.
9.2 Radiant.Earth
The Radiant.Earth customer base is
diverse and not only recognizes end users and
researchers, but also the equally important
outreach to and engagement of data providers
(public and commercial), value-added companies
and cutting-edge developers that enable
efficiencies, advancements and the opportunity
to reach greater scale. Two foundational
principles guide Radiant.Earth: open and
neutral. Open refers to freely available
imagery, data, geospatial tools and educational
resources. Neutral refers to advocating for all
of the growing sources of data, whether it be
public or private, satellite, airborne or drone,
or from any geographic area.
Through
its open-technology platform and robust,
proactive community development effort,
Radiant.Earth intends to accelerate and expand
the use of geospatial resources to improve
decision-making by:
- aggregating
the world’s open Earth imagery;
-
connecting users with the best tools, expertise,
and solutions;
- improving discovery
and analysis of the vast resources of Earth
imagery with improved tools (cloud computing,
plug-ins, and APIs);
- providing
education on the use of the resources;
- serving as a new source for
contributing, storing and accessing growing
amounts of drone data;
- providing
non-profit organizations with services to
develop requests for proposals, to conduct
technical review of commercial proposals, and to
develop proof of concept applications;
- building a community of innovators
by creating new opportunities for developers to
fuel solutions as a result of better access,
more data and a better understanding of the
community’s needs; and
- providing
highly-valuable insights into the commercial
marketplace and related policies such as
licensing issues.
In short,
Radiant.Earth will amplify other’s good work –
the excellent products, research, contributions
and advancements of the numerous and diverse
government, business and non-governmental
organisations that comprise the broad global
development community.
It intends to
strengthen and compliment on-going efforts, all
within a context that is more responsive to
global development.
As the old adage
states, “A rising tide lifts all boats”.
Radiant.Earth hopes to be that tide by
leveraging today’s technology to take what now
is a disparate and competitive marketplace
filled with many successes, but with several
high barriers to entry, and transforming it to
one that is more cohesive, collaborative,
informed, equipped and responsive to the global
development community.
Figure 1: Here’s how it works
9.3 Partnerships for the future
Strong collaborations with groups such
as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
(CEOS) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO),
which have been at the forefront of open data
policy for societal benefit, are key to realizing
Radiant.Earth. To that end, Radiant.Earth has
established formal working relationships with
numerous CEOS Members, including ESA and CSIRO,
and has engaged GEO and NASA in planning efforts.
In addition, it has established agreements with
private sector firms such as Amazon Web Services.
As Radiant.Earth bridges public,
private and non-governmental sectors, it is
uniquely situated to help deliver on the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, which will
require even greater cooperation and communication
and will need to address a myriad of fast-paced
changes occurring in the marketplace. Many of
these changes are happening outside the CEOS
community. From new privately-funded satellite
constellations to an abundance of drone data, new
actors and data sources in the sky and on the
ground are rapidly advancing open data strategies
and impacts. Cloud computing and machine learning
are changing and accelerating analytic
capabilities, taking data access and research to
new levels. To this end, we have formed
partnerships with new actors such as Code for
Africa, a membership group with the largest civic
technology laboratories and open data activists.
All of these capabilities should be harnessed to
deliver on the 2030 Agenda.
ESA and Radiant.Earth recently
entered into an agreement to facilitate monitoring
progress towards the SDGs and enhancing geospatial
literacy across the global development community.
Radiant.Earth looks forward to
contributing to the 2030 Agenda and leveraging the
successes of data philanthropy and open data. Along
with the work of groups such as CEOS, Radiant.Earth
hopes to provide a new and effective resource for
the global development community.
Figure 2: Food distribution in Kenya (Anes
Sabitovic, unsplash.com, Creative Commons)
Article Contributors
Anne Hale Miglarese (Chief Executive Officer,
Radiant.Earth)
Anthony Burn (Chief Engagement
Officer, Radiant.Earth)
Further Information
Radiant.Earth website:
www.radiant.earth
or email hello@radiant.earth
Specific
inquiries regarding cooperation or contributions
should be directed to Anthony Burn, Chief
Engagement Officer at Anthony@radiant.earth
General communications or press
inquiries should be Louisa Nakanuku-Diggs at
Louisa@radiant.earth
