Source Cooperative is a neutral, non-profit data-sharing utility designed to make it easy for trusted organizations and individuals to publish and share data on the open web without needing to manage complex infrastructure, create data portals, or rely on proprietary APIs or SaaS subscriptions. Currently in private beta, it uses standard HTTP methods to facilitate data access and is built on commoditized cloud object storage, enabling the hosting of large datasets.
The platform, developed and maintained by Radiant Earth, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, aims to simplify data discovery and access, addressing the challenges of sharing data in a secure and efficient manner. Source Cooperative is the next generation of Radiant MLHub, hosting diverse datasets like satellite imagery, flood event data, and agricultural field boundaries from organizations such as Maxar, VIDA, and the European Space Agency. It supports open-source development, with its code available on GitHub, and is exploring cooperative governance models for future implementation.
Key features include:
- Ease of Use: Data providers can upload files to repositories, with README files displayed for context, similar to GitHub but optimized for large-scale data.
- Public Access: All hosted data is publicly accessible, with an application process for beta testers to publish data.
- Community and Collaboration: Source Cooperative encourages contributions through documentation, design, and community management, and it supports developers creating tools and tutorials using its data.
The platform is funded by the Navigation Fund’s Open Science Initiative and is focused on enabling efficient, scalable, and democratic data sharing for research, business, and public use.