Resource Watch.

Trusted, timely data about our planet.

In a world where opinions are polarized and false facts spread quickly, there’s increasing demand for trusted and timely data. That’s why WRI and over 30 partners built Resource Watch, a dynamic platform that leverages technology, data, and human networks to bring unprecedented transparency about our planet.

Connecting decision makers with the data they need.

Powered by radical transparency.

Hundreds of data sets are all in one place. Users can visualize challenges facing people and the planet, from climate change to poverty, water risk to state instability, air pollution to human migration, and more. Open access, open data, open source. 

It’s all connected. 

Dashboards in climate, nature, and society to understand the relationships between them.

Universal.

For government staff, business analysts, journalists, researchers, and citizens, this tool has a purpose for all.

Make it yours. 

Create, share, and embed interactive maps, or customize charts and graphs. A powerful tool for discovery and data-driven storytelling.

Developing the Resource Watch platform.

The brief.

Convened by World Resources Institute, a large partnership came together to share hundreds of socio-ecological datasets all in one place. A core goal was to democratize reliable, peer-reviewed information, but accessibility is meaningless without usability. Therefore, great value was placed on the need for a robust user experience with intelligent visualizations and analytical functionalities.

Our role.

With more than 30 organizations contributing their data, expertise and skills, we took responsibility for the user research, design and development of the platform.

Google Cloud Engine and Amazon Web Services offer remote access to various data sets via an Application Programming Interface (API). We developed an open-source API that connects Resource Watch to these data sets, allowing users to access and utilize them easily. The Resource Watch API is currently used by Global Forest Watch, PREP, the Water Peace and Security Initiative, and other developing platforms.

Curated by WRI experts, all the data is open and free data so anyone can use it to understand the challenges affecting our society and planet. Our design allows for exploring interconnected problems by overlaying data sets. We used Vega to support custom visualizations, ensuring high-quality and timely data. This makes Resource Watch a powerful tool for data-driven storytelling and discovery.

Delivered with impact.

Beyond big data.

Resource Watch is made possible by the world’s rapid advances in open data and technology. Cloud computing and Big Data have allowed us to publish and access millions of datasets but that also presents a problem: how do we find the data we need? Resource Watch brings together hundreds of data sets in one place and makes it easier for researchers, analysts, journalists, policymakers, and citizens to find, understand and share the information they need. It has been accessed in hundreds of countries and by thousands of people around the world.

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