Yesterday was all about climate and climate change! A high profile event took place in D.C. yesterday to formally launch the Climate Data Initiative, an ambitious new effort bringing together extensive open government data and design competitions with commitments from the private and philanthropic sectors to develop data-driven planning and resilience tools for local communities. Tech leaders from Esri, Google, Intel, NOAA, NASA and other orgs were on hand to offer their commitment to the effort.
Jack Dangermond speaking at the Climate Data Initiative in D.C
Supporting the effort, NOAA and NASA Launched the Coastal Vulnerability Innovation Challenge – the challenge is to create tools and provide information so communities can prepare for coastal inundation – Think Opportunity! Finally, Esri officially launched a climate-focused geo- collaboration portal – a place where citizens and professionals can go online to discover, contribute, and share resources critical to confronting the impacts of climate change. This website will offer a starting point for open data and ideas. This effort will help give communities across America the information and tools they need to plan for current and future climate impacts. Recall also that just last week in Palm Springs, Esri announced the Esri Climate Resilience App Challenge in an effort to support the initiative. The challenge is open to everyone – independent developers and those in startups, governments, academia, and NGOs. The resulting apps will be openly shared and Esri will award prizes to the winners and recognize them at the ESRIUC in July. This is a great opportunity for all!