Realtime Global Environmental Hazard Sources — TerraPulse Ticker Expansion
Research date: 2026-05-25
Purpose: Round out geographic coverage (Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania) and hazard-category breadth for the public ticker at terrapulse.info.
License criterion: Free, realtime, and commercial-use-OK without per-deal negotiation. TerraPulse is a public PWA with monetization on the roadmap, so any source whose terms ban commercial use, require pre-clearance for commercial use, or hinge on a custom EULA is rejected (or flagged as "research-only").
1. Executive Summary — Top 10 Most Impactful Additions
Ordered by combined coverage gap closure + license cleanliness + ease-of-ingest:
- GDACS (Global Disaster Awareness and Coordination System) — JRC/UN. One feed, all hazard types, global. Acknowledgment-only attribution. Easiest single win.
- MET Norway Weather API (api.met.no) MetAlerts — CAP feed under CC BY 4.0. Closes the Nordics + many Arctic-region alerts.
- Environment & Climate Change Canada — MSC GeoMet weather alerts (CAP) — Open Government Licence – Canada. Closes the Canada gap directly adjacent to NWS.
- JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) Disaster Prevention XML — CC BY 4.0-compatible. Quake, tsunami, and severe-weather alerts for one of the world's most hazard-dense regions.
- CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) global air quality NRT — explicitly commercial-use-OK with attribution; global air-quality coverage outside the US/EPA bubble.
- OpenAQ v3 — CC BY 4.0 global air-quality aggregator (already wraps many national networks).
- GeoNet New Zealand (earthquake + volcano) — CC BY 3.0 NZ. Adds an authoritative SW Pacific quake/volcano feed.
- NOAA SWPC space weather JSON — public-domain US-federal, global relevance. New hazard category (space weather / Kp / geomagnetic storm) not currently in the ticker.
- USGS Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) API — US public-domain, but covers Alaska/Cascades/Hawaii/Mariana volcanoes. Plus Smithsonian/USGS Daily Volcanic Activity Report (note: Smithsonian text content is non-commercial; use only the USGS-authored alert records).
- Météo-France Vigilance API — CC BY 4.0 once registered. Closes the France/overseas-territories alert gap (Caribbean, Reunion, French Polynesia, French Guiana).
Major surprises during research:
- MeteoAlarm / EUMETNET is NOT commercial-use OK by default. The pan-EU weather warning aggregator most blog posts recommend explicitly says "private, research and educational purposes" only; commercial use requires EUMETDAPS authorization. This kills the obvious "one feed for all of Europe" idea — we have to ingest national CAP feeds individually (DWD, MET Norway, Météo-France, etc.).
- EMSC SeismicPortal is non-commercial. USGS earthquake feed is global anyway, so this is a minor loss.
- Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) free FTP is explicitly non-commercial. Australia is a real gap; the only realistic free-commercial option is GDACS plus AU-relevant items pulled from the global feeds (USGS quakes, FIRMS fires).
- AQICN (waqi.info) bans for-profit use without written agreement. OpenAQ + CAMS are the clean alternatives.
- Smithsonian GVP content is non-commercial. The joint USGS/Smithsonian "Daily Volcanic Activity Report" is muddled — only USGS-authored portions (volcano alert color codes via VHP API) are safe.
2. Sources Organized by Region
2.1 Global / Multi-Region
| Source | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License (verbatim/paraphrase) | Format | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDACS (JRC/UN) | All (quake, flood, cyclone, volcano, drought, fire) | https://www.gdacs.org/xml/rss.xml and JSON API per gdacs.org/feed_reference.aspx |
~15 min | None | "Acknowledge source as 'Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, GDACS'." Free, open. Commercial-use OK. | RSS / GeoJSON / JSON | None published; be polite |
| USGS Earthquake | Quake | earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/ |
1 min | None | US federal — public domain, attribution requested. OK. | GeoJSON | None |
| USGS ShakeMap / PAGER | Quake impact | earthquake.usgs.gov/data/shakemap/ + product feeds |
Per event | None | US federal — public domain. OK. | JSON/XML/PNG | None |
| NASA FIRMS | Fire | firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov |
~3 hr (NRT), ~1 min (URT for US/Canada) | API key (free) | NASA — open data, commercial OK with attribution. | CSV/GeoJSON | 5000/10min per key |
| CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere) NRT | Air quality, dust, smoke | ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu |
Hourly–6-hourly | Free CDS API key | "No restriction on use, reproduction and redistribution, with or without adaptation, for commercial or non-commercial purposes." Attribution: "Generated using Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information [Year]". Commercial OK. | NetCDF / GRIB / WMS | Per-account quota |
| Copernicus EMS CEMS / GloFAS | Flood (global) | ewds.climate.copernicus.eu |
Daily (NRT forecast) | Free EWDS account | CEMS terms allow commercial use with attribution: "Generated using Copernicus Emergency Management Service information [Year]". Restrictions: Reg. (EU) 2021/696 Article 53 applies to certain early-warning products. Mostly OK — verify product-by-product. | NetCDF / GRIB | API quota |
| Sentinel-3 SLSTR NRT FRP (EUMETSAT) | Fire radiative power | EUMETSAT Data Store | 5 min granules | Free EO Portal account | Copernicus Sentinel data licence: free, full, open, commercial OK, attribution required. | NetCDF | Account quota |
| OpenAQ v3 | Air quality (aggregator) | api.openaq.org/v3/ |
Varies by provider (1-min to hourly) | Free API key | CC BY 4.0 (and per-provider; some providers under CC0). Commercial OK with attribution to OpenAQ + upstream provider. | JSON | 60/min free tier |
| NOAA SWPC | Space weather (Kp, solar wind, CME, geomagnetic storm) | services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/ and /products/ |
1 min to hourly | None | US federal — open, attribution requested, no endorsement implication. OK. | JSON / text | None published |
| BGS Geomagnetism real-time | Geomagnetic indices, K-index forecasts | geomag.bgs.ac.uk API |
1 min – hourly | None | BGS Open Government Licence v3 (commercial OK with attribution). | JSON / CSV | None published |
| NCEI / NOAA Tsunami (PTWC + NTWC) | Tsunami | tsunami.gov RSS / WMO ATOM |
Realtime per event | None | US federal — public domain. OK. | RSS / CAP / XML | None |
| WHO Disease Outbreak News (DON) | Biohazard | who.int/api/news/diseaseoutbreaknews/ + RSS |
Ad hoc (<24 hr) | None for RSS | WHO content under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO by default — NOT commercial-use OK as primary feed. RSS headlines as facts are OK if you only show event/place/date, but the article text and graphics are NC. Use cautiously — flag for legal review. | RSS / JSON | None published |
| ReliefWeb (UN OCHA) | Disaster events (aggregated) | api.reliefweb.int/v1/disasters |
Hourly | None | "ReliefWeb content may be used freely by any party for non-commercial purposes"... commercial republication requires a newswire license (UNGM notice 28941). NOT commercial-use OK. | JSON | 1000/day soft |
| NASA LHASA v2 | Landslide nowcast | gpm.nasa.gov/landslides/projects.html (no formal public API; published tiles + GitHub) |
30 min | None | NASA open-source software (Apache 2.0); data products under NASA open-data policy. Commercial OK with attribution. Note: no stable hosted JSON API — you may need to consume the tile/GeoTIFF service. | GeoTIFF / KML | n/a |
| Smithsonian GVP Weekly/Daily Volcanic Activity Report | Volcano | volcano.si.edu (XML / RSS) |
Daily/weekly | None | "You may not use the content for commercial purposes... use to promote or advertise products or services... is prohibited." NOT commercial-use OK. | RSS / HTML | n/a |
2.2 Europe
| Source | Country/Region | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MET Norway api.met.no MetAlerts | Norway + Norwegian seas/Svalbard | Severe weather (CAP) | api.met.no/weatherapi/metalerts/2.0/ |
5–15 min | User-Agent header required | CC BY 4.0. Commercial OK with attribution. | CAP XML / RSS / GeoJSON |
| DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst) Open Data | Germany | Severe weather (CAP), radar, observations | opendata.dwd.de + GeoWebService at maps.dwd.de |
5 min | None | DWD Act §4 mandates free provision; standard "GeoNutzV" license — explicitly permits commercial reuse with attribution. Commercial OK. | CAP / GeoJSON / GRIB |
| Météo-France Open Data — Vigilance | France + DOM-TOM (Caribbean, Reunion, French Polynesia, French Guiana, New Caledonia) | Severe weather | portail-api.meteofrance.fr/web/en/api/DonneesPubliquesVigilance |
15 min | Free API key | "Etalab Open Licence 2.0" / CC BY 4.0 equivalent. Commercial OK with attribution. | JSON / CAP-like XML |
| Met Office UK Weather DataHub | UK | Severe weather | datahub.metoffice.gov.uk |
Hourly | Free API key (tiered paid for higher volume) | Open Government Licence v3 — but note the carve-out: "must not use the Data to provide warnings for Emergency Responders" or any activity reserved by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. For a public ticker showing alerts as info (not for emergency responder consumption) this is OK. Verify wording for your specific UI. | JSON / GeoJSON |
| KNMI (Netherlands) | Netherlands | Severe weather | dataplatform.knmi.nl open data portal |
10 min | Free anonymous key | CC0 / CC BY 4.0 per product. Commercial OK. | JSON / NetCDF |
| SMHI (Sweden) | Sweden | Severe weather, observations | opendata.smhi.se |
Hourly | None | CC BY 4.0. Commercial OK with attribution. | JSON / GeoJSON |
| FMI (Finland) | Finland | Severe weather | en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/open-data |
Hourly | Free anonymous key | CC BY 4.0. Commercial OK with attribution. | WFS / GeoJSON |
| EFFIS / GWIS (JRC Copernicus) | Europe + global (GWIS) | Wildfire | forest-fire.emergency.copernicus.eu data services |
Daily | Mostly anonymous; data-request form for bulk | EFFIS license: free use including commercial with attribution "Source: EFFIS - European Commission Joint Research Centre". Some products NRT, some on request. OK — confirm per product. | GeoJSON / WMS |
| EU-CDS / CEMS GloFAS Europe (EFAS) | EU + UK | Flood | ewds.climate.copernicus.eu |
Daily (twice) | Free EWDS account | Same as CEMS global (above). OK. | NetCDF / GRIB / WMS |
| GFZ Potsdam GEOFON | Europe + global quakes | Quake | geofon.gfz-potsdam.de FDSN |
1 min | None | "Data are available free of charge for non-commercial scientific use." NOT commercial-use OK — use USGS for global quakes instead. | FDSN |
| EMSC SeismicPortal | Europe-Mediterranean quakes | Quake | seismicportal.eu/webservices.html |
1 min | None | "Material may be reproduced for personal, academic, educational, non-commercial research or other non-commercial use." NOT commercial-use OK. Use USGS. | FDSN / WebSocket |
2.3 Asia
| Source | Country | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JMA Disaster Prevention XML | Japan | Quake, tsunami, severe weather, volcanic, typhoon | xml.kishou.go.jp/xmlpull.html (PubSubHubbub) |
Realtime push | None (recommend subscribing via hub) | "Compatible with CC BY 4.0." Source citation required. Commercial OK with attribution. | JMA XML (CAP-ish) |
| JMA Forecast/Warning JSON | Japan | Severe weather warnings | www.jma.go.jp/bosai/forecast/ (informal) and the kishou XML for canonical |
10 min | None | Same as above. OK but JSON endpoints are not officially documented as stable. | JSON |
| BMKG (Indonesia) | Indonesia | Quake, tsunami (InaTEWS) | data.bmkg.go.id/DataMKG/TEWS/ autogempa.json etc. |
5 min | None for public feeds | Indonesian government open data — no explicit Creative Commons declared. Standard practice treats as freely usable with attribution; commercial-use status AMBIGUOUS — verify with PTSP BMKG before launch. | JSON / XML |
| IMD (India) | India | Weather warnings, cyclone | mausam.imd.gov.in (no formal API; data.gov.in datasets) |
Hourly | India NDSAP via data.gov.in API key | National Data Sharing & Accessibility Policy — commercial reuse permitted with attribution (Government Open Data License – India). OK for the data.gov.in mirrored feeds. Direct IMD endpoints are scrape-only, not recommended. | JSON / HTML scrape |
| KMA (Korea) | South Korea | Severe weather | data.kma.go.kr |
Hourly | Free API key | Public Data Portal Korea OGL — commercial use permitted with attribution. OK. | JSON / XML |
| CWA (Taiwan) | Taiwan | Quake, severe weather, typhoon | opendata.cwa.gov.tw |
1-min quake; hourly weather | Free API key | CWA Open Data Authorization License — explicitly permits commercial use with attribution. OK. | JSON / GeoJSON |
| HKO (Hong Kong) | Hong Kong | Severe weather, typhoon | data.gov.hk/en-data/dataset/hk-hko-rss-current-weather-report |
10 min | None | Hong Kong PSI Terms — commercial use permitted with attribution. OK. | RSS / JSON |
| CMA (China) | Mainland China | Severe weather | No public open API for foreign developers; CMA Public Service Portal requires Chinese-entity registration | n/a | Required | NOT accessible to a foreign commercial entity. Skip; rely on GDACS + USGS + FIRMS for China coverage. | n/a |
| PHIVOLCS (Philippines) | Philippines | Quake, volcano, tsunami | earthquake.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph (HTML; no formal API) |
Per event | None (scrape) | Philippine government data — typically open with attribution; no explicit CC declaration. AMBIGUOUS; treat as scrape-only and verify. | HTML |
2.4 Africa
| Source | Country/Region | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SANSA Space Weather (South Africa) | Africa region (ionosphere/geomagnetic) | Space weather | spaceweather.sansa.org.za (no formal JSON API documented) |
Daily | None for public dashboard | Mixed: SANDIMS facility distributes some data under "commercial, multi-user government and free data licenses" — AMBIGUOUS for API-level access; verify directly. Skip until clarified; SWPC covers global space weather. | HTML / images |
| ACMAD (African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development) | Africa-wide | Severe weather digests | acmad.org (no programmatic API) |
Daily | n/a | No machine-readable feed. Skip. | HTML |
Africa is a genuine coverage gap. The realistic free-commercial route is global feeds that include Africa: GDACS, USGS quake, FIRMS fire, CAMS air quality, GloFAS flood, NOAA tsunami (Indian Ocean), SWPC space weather. No regional CAP aggregator with clean commercial terms exists today.
2.5 South America
| Source | Country | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INMET (Brazil) | Brazil | Severe weather warnings | apiprevmet3.inmet.gov.br and alertas2.inmet.gov.br |
Hourly | None | Brazilian LAI / Marco Civil — "all alerts public and free." No explicit Creative Commons; AMBIGUOUS but standard government-open practice. OK pending email confirmation. | JSON / HTML |
| INMET WIS 2.0 box | Brazil | WMO WIS broadcast | wis2bra.inmet.gov.br |
Realtime push | None | WMO Unified Data Policy resolution 1 (Cg-Ext 2021) — free unrestricted exchange (Annex 1 "Core data" mandates open, including commercial). OK for products tagged "core." | MQTT / WIS2 |
| INPE Queimadas (Brazil) | Brazil + Latin America wildfire focus | Wildfire | terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br and queimadas.dgi.inpe.br/queimadas/portal-api |
Daily | None | Brazilian government open data — no explicit CC declaration on the API portal. AMBIGUOUS; verify. NASA FIRMS covers the same region under cleaner license. | JSON / WFS |
| SHOA (Chile) | Chile coast | Tsunami | shoa.cl (no formal API) |
Per event | n/a | No machine-readable feed. Skip. | HTML |
| SMN Argentina | Argentina | Severe weather | ssl.smn.gob.ar/dpd/zipopendata.php (zipped CAP) |
Hourly | None | "Datos meteorológicos públicos" – no explicit CC. Standard government open data. AMBIGUOUS — verify; CAP feed exists. | CAP / XML |
2.6 Oceania
| Source | Country | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeoNet (New Zealand) | NZ | Quake + volcano | api.geonet.org.nz (FDSN + Tilde + GeoJSON) |
1 min quake; per-event volcano | None | CC BY 3.0 NZ. Commercial use permitted with attribution to "GNS Science / Earth Sciences New Zealand." OK. | GeoJSON / FDSN |
| MetService NZ | NZ | Severe weather | No free open API; commercial product only | n/a | Paid | Commercial license required. Skip. Use NIWA or GDACS for NZ severe-weather coverage. | n/a |
| Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) FTP | Australia | Severe weather warnings (CAP) | ftp.bom.gov.au |
10 min | None | "You may download, use and copy that material for personal use, or use within your organisation but you may not supply that material to any other person or use it for any commercial purpose." NOT commercial-use OK. | CAP / XML |
| Geoscience Australia Earthquakes | Australia | Quake | earthquakes.ga.gov.au (GeoJSON) |
1 min | None | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. OK with attribution. | GeoJSON |
2.7 North America (non-US, beyond what TerraPulse already has)
| Source | Country | Hazard | Endpoint | Cadence | Auth | License | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSC GeoMet (Environment Canada) | Canada | Weather alerts (CAP) | api.weather.gc.ca/collections/weather-alerts + MSC Datamart CAP |
5 min | None | Open Government Licence – Canada. Commercial OK with attribution to "Environment and Climate Change Canada". | GeoJSON / WMS / CAP |
| NRCan Earthquakes Canada | Canada | Quake | earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca FDSN |
1 min | None | OGL-Canada. OK. | FDSN / GeoJSON |
| CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) | Canada wildfire | Wildfire | cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/datamart |
Daily | None | OGL-Canada. OK. | Shapefile / GeoJSON / WMS |
| CONAGUA / SMN Mexico | Mexico | Weather, hurricanes | smn.conagua.gob.mx (limited public API) |
Hourly | None for some products | Mexican government open data — no explicit CC declaration. AMBIGUOUS. | HTML / RSS |
| SSN UNAM (Mexico) | Mexico | Quake | www.ssn.unam.mx |
Per event | None | Academic open use; commercial AMBIGUOUS. USGS covers Mexican quakes anyway. | HTML / FDSN |
3. Sources Organized by Category (Cross-Reference)
3.1 Severe Weather Alerts (CAP / equivalents)
- North America: NWS (have), Environment Canada MSC GeoMet
- Europe: MET Norway, DWD Germany, Météo-France, Met Office UK (with carve-out), KNMI Netherlands, SMHI Sweden, FMI Finland
- Asia: JMA Japan, KMA Korea, CWA Taiwan, HKO Hong Kong, IMD India (via data.gov.in)
- South America: INMET Brazil (with attribution caveat), SMN Argentina (CAP, ambiguous license)
- Oceania: Geoscience Australia (quakes only), NZ MetService is paid-only — gap remains
- Global aggregator: GDACS (when severity is high enough)
3.2 Earthquake
- Global: USGS FDSNWS (already have)
- Regional alt feeds (NOT commercial-OK): EMSC SeismicPortal, GFZ GEOFON
- Regional commercial-OK: GeoNet NZ, Geoscience Australia, JMA Japan, BMKG Indonesia (ambiguous)
3.3 Tsunami
- Pacific: NOAA PTWC RSS/CAP (public domain)
- Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf: NOAA NTWC RSS/CAP
- Japan: JMA tsunami warnings (XML)
- Indonesia: BMKG InaTEWS (license ambiguous)
3.4 Volcano
- US (incl. Alaska/Hawaii/Mariana): USGS VHP API
- Indonesia: PVMBG (via Magma Indonesia HTML — no clean API; skip)
- New Zealand: GeoNet volcano monitoring
- Japan: JMA volcanic warnings
- Iceland: IMO (Vedurstofa) — open data under "Creative Commons" attribution per their data portal; usable
- Global cross-reference (rejected for commercial): Smithsonian GVP
3.5 Wildfire
- Global: NASA FIRMS (have)
- Europe + MENA: EFFIS (have option), GWIS global
- Canada: CWFIS
- Brazil: INPE Queimadas (license ambiguous; prefer FIRMS)
- Near-real-time satellite (5-min granules): EUMETSAT Sentinel-3 SLSTR NRT FRP
3.6 Flood
- Global: Copernicus GloFAS via EWDS
- Europe: EFAS (Copernicus)
- US: already covered by NWS alerts + USGS Water Services
- Sentinel-1 flood mapping: Copernicus Data Space (Sentinel-1 GRD products are open with attribution)
3.7 Air Quality
- Global model: CAMS (Copernicus)
- Global station aggregator: OpenAQ
- Rejected: AQICN/waqi.info (NC), Google Air Quality (paid)
3.8 Space Weather (NEW CATEGORY for the ticker)
- US/global: NOAA SWPC JSON (Kp, solar wind, X-ray flux, geomagnetic storm watches)
- UK/global: BGS Geomagnetism real-time
- Africa: SANSA (HTML only, ambiguous)
3.9 Drought
- US: US Drought Monitor (have)
- Europe: European Drought Observatory (EDO) — JRC; Copernicus license, commercial OK with attribution. Endpoint:
edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Format: WMS / WCS / GeoTIFF. - Global: GDO (Global Drought Observatory) — same JRC umbrella, same license.
3.10 Landslide / Mass Movement
- Global: NASA LHASA v2 (no hosted JSON API — would need to consume GeoTIFF tiles or run the model locally)
- GDACS includes mass-movement events
3.11 Biohazard / Disease Outbreaks
- EU: ECDC Surveillance Atlas — open data, attribution-only, OK.
- Global: WHO DON — content is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. NOT commercial-OK as primary content. Headlines/event facts can be shown as ticker text if you don't reproduce the article body.
- Rejected: ProMED (ISID subscription/license required for redistribution).
3.12 Marine / Sea-Level
- Global: UNESCO IOC Sea Level Station Monitoring Facility (
ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org) — API requires registered key; license terms are "for sea-level monitoring purposes" and AMBIGUOUS about commercial use. Verify before integrating.
4. Rejected / Problematic Sources
| Source | Reason |
|---|---|
| MeteoAlarm / EUMETNET aggregate | "Content may only be used for private, research and educational purposes... commercial use is only possible with the express written and prior authorisation of the Executive Director of EUMETNET." Per-NMS national feeds (DWD, MET Norway, etc.) are the workaround. |
| EMSC SeismicPortal | "Material may be reproduced for personal, academic, educational, non-commercial research or other non-commercial use." |
| GFZ GEOFON | "Free of charge for non-commercial scientific use." |
| Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) free FTP | "...you may not supply that material to any other person or use it for any commercial purpose." Commercial registration tier is paid. |
| Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program (GVP) content | "You may not use the content for commercial purposes." |
| AQICN / waqi.info | "Public usage by for-profit corporations requires explicit agreement." Cannot be sold or included in paid services. |
| WHO Disease Outbreak News content | CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO on most WHO publications; ND-flavored carveouts. Use only as link/headline metadata, not reproduce article body. |
| ReliefWeb full content | "Non-commercial purposes" by default; commercial republication requires UN OCHA newswire license. |
| CMA China | API requires Chinese-entity registration; not accessible to foreign commercial operators. |
| Met Office UK weather warnings for emergency-responder use | Civil Contingencies Act 2004 reserves emergency-responder warning provision to the Met Office. Public ticker is OK; an emergency-responder product is not. |
| MetService NZ | Commercial license required for API access. |
| DisasterAWARE (PDC) | Free only for disaster-management practitioners / humanitarian assistance; general commercial use is not authorized. |
| MIROVA volcanic thermal | No documented public API or license terms for redistribution. Academic display only. |
| Toulouse VAAC commercial products | "Customer is required to sign a license agreement." |
5. Recommended Top-5 Integrations (with rationale)
1. GDACS (Global Disaster Awareness and Coordination System)
- Why first: Single feed, every hazard category (quake, flood, cyclone, volcano, drought, fire), every continent. Acknowledgment-only attribution. Already provides severity scoring (Green/Orange/Red) usable directly as ticker color.
- Risk: Latency for some hazards is 15+ min vs. our existing source-specific feeds (USGS quake at 1 min). Use GDACS to supplement with global coverage, not replace high-cadence specialty feeds.
- Ingest pattern: RSS poll every 5 min; dedup by
eventid+alertlevel+fromdate. Wire severity to ticker color tier.
2. MET Norway MetAlerts (CAP)
- Why second: Cleanest license in Europe (CC BY 4.0). Covers Norway, Svalbard, North Sea, Norwegian Sea — Arctic and North Atlantic gaps. Same CAP shape we already parse for NWS.
- Risk: Norwegian + English bilingual blocks; pick the English
infoblock. User-Agent header required (User-Agent: TerraPulse contact@terrapulse.info).
3. Environment Canada MSC GeoMet weather-alerts
- Why third: Adjacent to NWS, fills the visible Canada gap on the ticker map. Open Government Licence – Canada, no quirks. CAP shape parsable by our NWS fetcher with minor field-mapping changes.
- Risk: Bilingual (English + French) CAP blocks; pick
<info>with<language>en-CA</language>.
4. JMA Disaster Prevention XML
- Why fourth: Japan is one of the world's highest-density hazard regions (quake, tsunami, typhoon, volcano). JMA's terms are explicitly CC BY 4.0 compatible. Push-based delivery (PubSubHubbub) gives us realtime without polling.
- Risk: XML schema (jmx_seis, jmx_mete, jmx_volc) is more involved than CAP. Subscribing to the hub requires a public callback URL — we can poll the atom feed as a fallback.
5. CAMS Global Air Quality NRT
- Why fifth: Brings global air-quality coverage outside the US. Truly commercial-OK ("no restriction on use... for commercial or non-commercial purposes"). Pairs naturally with OpenAQ.
- Risk: Heavier data (NetCDF/GRIB, regridded fields rather than point obs). For the ticker we only need point-of-interest sampling at city centroids — a small daemon that samples the latest forecast at ~200 world cities is sufficient. Avoid downloading full global fields.
Honorable mentions (top-10 but not in the first wave)
- OpenAQ v3 — perfect license, but station coverage is patchy outside the US/EU/India; CAMS modeled fields give better visual coverage for a global ticker.
- NOAA SWPC — easiest possible ingest (small JSON files). Add as soon as the ticker UI supports a "space weather" category.
- GeoNet NZ — perfect license, but very low event rate. Add when expanding to per-region detail pages.
- Météo-France Vigilance — easy once you accept the API-portal registration step. Adds the French overseas territories which other feeds miss.
- EDO / GDO drought — natural extension of existing US Drought Monitor.
6. License-Term Verification Status
This document is based on web searches against the providers' own documentation pages during the 2026-05-25 research session. Direct WebFetch was unavailable in this session, so verbatim license-clause excerpts came via Google's snippet rendering of provider pages. Before going to production on any source flagged "AMBIGUOUS" or before launching paid features that depend on these sources, re-verify by:
- Fetching the live terms-of-use page (preserved as PDF in
docs/licenses/<source>.pdf). - Where commercial use is conditional on attribution, document the exact attribution string and check it renders within the ticker's space budget.
- For WHO/ReliefWeb-class providers with NC licenses, get legal sign-off on whether display-as-fact (headline only) crosses the NC line.
7. Open Questions / Next Steps
- Ticker attribution UX: Several CC BY 4.0 sources require visible attribution. Decide whether ticker shows "src: GDACS" as the trailing token, or whether attribution lives on a per-event detail page.
- Africa coverage: No regional aggregator with clean commercial terms exists. Decision needed: rely on global feeds (GDACS + USGS + FIRMS + CAMS + SWPC) and accept that Africa will be lower-resolution, or budget for a paid regional source.
- BMKG, INMET, PHIVOLCS, SMN Argentina: All "ambiguous" — recommend a one-page email asking the agency to confirm commercial-use permission in writing before integration.
- WIS2 (WMO Information System 2.0): INMET already runs a WIS2 box. WIS2 mandates open exchange of "core" weather data globally. As more NMSs deploy WIS2 boxes through 2026-2027, this becomes the cleanest single-protocol global source. Worth tracking.