Every day numerous sensors on earth and in space observe the condition of land, atmosphere and oceans for multiple purposes ranging from weather forecasting to monitoring of nuclear incidents. Important political decisions, such as how to adapt better to climate change, depend ultimately on scientific insights gained from these observations. But at present there is no simple way to access and use that data.

“We are investing lots of resources to make measurements for a particular reason, but the information obtained may never be used again,” says Denis Havlik of the Austrian Institute of Technology. “Perhaps people don’t know that certain information exists or they cannot access it; sometimes they can access it but they don’t know how to use it, or it is too complicated to get in touch with the data owner.”

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