AWS Public Sector Blog

Jed Sundwall

Author: Jed Sundwall

Jed Sundwall is the open data lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

bones of a triceratops from the Smithsonian Open Access Initiative

Smithsonian releases 2.8 million images through Smithsonian Open Access Initiative

The Smithsonian Institution announced the availability of more than 2.8 million two- and three-dimensional images and files through the Smithsonian Open Access Initiative. With this initiative, anyone with an internet connection has access to high-resolution media files, the accompanying metadata, and research from the Smithsonian Institution’s 19 museums, nine research centers, and zoo. This Smithsonian dataset is the largest museum collection released to date.

Tropical Systems Otis, Norma, Jose, Maria, Lee (from left to right) as captured by NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite on September 17th, 2017

NOAA and AWS expand commitment to increase access to environmental data

Today AWS announced it is expanding its collaboration with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to make environmental data easier to access and use. A new agreement with NOAA builds upon the work started when AWS first collaborated with NOAA on the Big Data Project in 2015. Users will now be able to access new, authoritative NOAA data within AWS without needing to download and store their own copies.