New Delhi: Zomato’s co-founder and CEO, Deepinder Goyal has introduced India’s first crowd-supported weather infrastructure. This initiative will provide localised, real-time data on important weather factors such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall, and more.
The new platform (https://weatherunion.com) consists of a proprietary network of over 650 ground-based weather stations. It is currently active in 45 cities with plans for rapid expansion to more locations in the near future, according to the company. (Also Read: Microsoft’s Xbox To Shut Down Several Gaming Studios: Know Why)
Zomato has announced that it is providing free access to its weather data through an API to all institutions and companies in India. “We are now opening up free access to this (through an API) to all institutions and companies in the country.” Goyal wrote on X. (Also Read: Google Wallet App Launched For Android Users In India: Check Details)
Excited to unveil India’s first crowd-supported weather infrastructure, https://t.co/pUhhX8zKMe. A proprietary network of 650+ on-ground weather stations, it is the largest private infrastructure of its kind in our country.
These weather stations, developed by Zomato, provide… pic.twitter.com/lc5XQJJtO2
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) May 8, 2024
Deepinder explained that this detailed weather data has a lot of potential for businesses and research institutes to explore new applications and solve real-world problems. He further added that Zomato has already collaborated with CAS – IIT Delhi and they believe that more companies and institutions will find valuable uses for this data.
“We believe that this data is too valuable to keep to ourselves or to monetise; therefore, as a Zomato Giveback, we are opening up access to this data to everyone for the public good,” the co-founder added. Zomato’s co-founder further mentioned that Weather Union plans to expand its network and needs volunteers to offer space for setting up more weather stations.
“Also, a lot of Zomato employees have hosted weather stations at their homes. As we look forward to further expanding this infrastructure, we welcome volunteers who want to provide us space on their premises to install these weather stations and contribute to nation building,” he stated.