Every day, people around the world use data to make decisions.  When heading out of town, most of us use weather apps to check the forecast anywhere in the world before packing our bags.  However, when we travel to far-flung places, we may find ourselves packing food from home because we don’t know what may be available when we arrive.  We have a global, comprehensive, open data set that enables weather forecasting, but not something similar for food and agriculture?

In his first public remarks as head of USDA, Secretary Sonny Perdue noted that “…we want to make decisions based on facts and evidence,” “we want to be data-driven,” and “I need good data, I need good sound science to make decisions on…”

USDA recognizes that farmers, ranchers, and consumers alike – use data daily, from deciding when to plant, harvest or sell their crops, when to turn out cattle to pasture, or where to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.  This is why it is important that data be made available, open and accessible, to facilitate the best-informed decisions.

Around the world, a movement called the “open data revolution” is under way to make data available for public use.  This movement is expected to generate new insights, drive better decision-making, and enable governments, civil society, and the private sector to better target interventions and programs.

All of this is why the U.S. Government, led by USDA, was a founding partner of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative and why it continues to support the advancement of open data for agriculture and nutrition around the world.  Now with over 500 partners, GODAN continues to support the sharing of available, accessible, and usable open data for agriculture and nutrition to help ensure global food security.

If we’re going to feed over 9 billion people by 2050, we need open data policies to make decisions based on facts and evidence. This global perspective will help identify data already available and data gaps that exist, and sharpen the focus on how open data can foster innovation and collaborative research, creating whole new kinds of growth around the world.

For the first time, USDA’s Rural Housing Service is publicly releasing data across every program area in which the agency provides loans, guarantees, and grants—multifamily housing, single-family housing, and community facilities. This set of data will bring stakeholders and the public unprecedented insights into rural housing program delivery, impacts, challenges, and opportunities across the country. It will be updated regularly, so check back frequently for the latest release.

Click here for the data.

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

September 16-18, 2015

The National Academy of Sciences Building
Washington, DC

The Transportation Research Board will host a conference September 16-18, 2015 to provide transportation professionals with information about emerging best practices and research results on how to adapt surface transportation networks to the potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. The conference will examine efforts to mainstream consideration of climate change and extreme weather resilience in all aspects of the transportation sector, including planning and programming, capital improvements, and operations and maintenance.

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has redesigned its International Energy Portal to streamline navigation, simplify data presentation, and implement responsive design use. EIA based many of the redesigned aspects on customer feedback about the earlier beta release of the portal.

The International Energy Portal contains EIA’s country-level energy data. Users can view and download datasets for consumption, production, trade, reserves, and carbon dioxide emissions for different fuels and energy sources. The portal also provides access to EIA’s entire library of international reports, articles, and analyses, including Country Analysis Briefs.

Find data in fewer steps.

Users can select and explore prepopulated, fuel-specific default tables that provide annual data on energy production, consumption, trade, and reserves. Data options allow users to change time frequency and energy units, add sources and activities, and select other countries for comparison.

Customize data tables.

Customizable data tables allow users to sort by energy source and activity or by country and region. Users can now see and select countries within continental regions, International Energy Agency regions, and economic groups.

Tailor visualizations to user needs.

Animated maps allow users to see how trends in energy production, consumption, reserves, imports, and exports have changed over time. Other visualization options include heat maps, bubble maps, and time series.

Export data easily.

EIA’s international information is easily downloaded as data, maps, and charts for presentations, reports, and spreadsheets. Data downloads are available in CSV and JSON formats. Application Programming Interface (API) keys are available with EIA’s Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets add-ins, which make regular data updates much easier. Users can also download static versions of charts and tables in PDF or PNG image files.

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

As intermodal connectors for domestic and international freight, our nation’s ports serve a critical role in numerous supply chains and the national economy. In recognition of this importance, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (P.L. 114-94; Dec. 4, 2015; 129 Stat. 1312) established a Port Performance Freight Statistics Program within the U.S. Department of Transportation: Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The first annual Port Performance Freight Statistics Program report provides descriptive statistics for a group of ports for year 2016, including the top 25 ports in terms of total tonnage, twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and dry bulk tonnage. The report is available to download at https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/PPFS_Annual_Report.pdf

The 2016 Port Performance report used multiple sources, including public datasets featured on Data.Gov. One foundational dataset used in the report is the total commercial tonnage carried on waterways published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center.

Link to dataset: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/total-tonnage-foreign-and-domestic-of-commodites-carried-on-commercial-waterways .

Author: Marin Kress, Research Scientist, Engineer Research and Development Center, USACE

This Grain Transportation Report: Rail Deliveries to Port dataset from the USDA provides the total number of rail carloads used in weekly grain shipments traveling to ports in five different regions of the country starting in 1994.  The five regions are Atlantic, East Gulf, Mississippi River, Texas Gulf, and Pacific.  In 2008 the dataset started recording cross border rail shipments in to Mexico.  Included with each record is start-of-week date, end-of-week date, and number week of year (1-52).  For users interested in learning about intermodal freight flows, agricultural exports, and how the marine transportation system supports American farmers this dataset is a great resource.

A glossary of terms used in the file is available from USDA at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/GTRGlossaryofTerms.pdf

View Dataset link:  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/grain-transportation-report-table-3

Reference: https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/transportation-analysis/gtr

This post was originally published on the Healthdata.gov blog by Kristen Honey, Chief Data Scientist and Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), HHS; Amy Gleason, Data Strategy and Execution Workgroup Lead, U.S. Digital Service; and Kevin Duvall, Deputy Chief Data Officer (CDO), Office of the CDO, HHS

Due to demand, please access the data files here:
– Download: https://healthdata.gov/sites/default/files/reported_hospital_capacity_admissions_facility-level_weekly_average_timeseries_20201207.csv
– Data Dictionary: https://healthdata.gov/covid-19-reported-patient-impact-and-hospital-capacity-facility-data-dictionary

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published COVID-19 hospital data at the facility level for each week, going back to August 1st 2020. This information was previously aggregated by state. This new data and its data quality are paramount to the U.S. pandemic response. COVID-19 models, analyses, and predictive analytics can only be as good as the data they ingest. By sharing these new hospital COVID-19 capacity data at the facility-level with the public, the opportunity exists to improve data quality.

This data is tremendously complex and is the result of substantial ongoing efforts by hospital, state, and Federal personnel who collaborate to meet daily data reporting requirements. This ongoing collaboration has steadily improved data quality and reporting consistency in recent weeks, even as the content of hospital capacity data has become more complex.

We opted not to have perfect be the enemy of good, so these datasets will have imperfections. To continue improving the quality of data, we welcome your feedback. When more people access and use the data, we have more collective ability to identify gaps, errors, or other problems with these COVID-19 datasets. All stakeholders — local community coordinators, data scientists, data journalists, and healthcare researchers — are encouraged to download, analyze, study the datasets, and share your feedback with HealthData.gov.

We also encourage you to visit and contribute to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about this hospital-level data. These living FAQs are crowdsourced from the public, so your contributions will improve these FAQs over time.

Commitment to Transparency and Open Data

By opening COVID-19 datasets, our collective goal is to accelerate scientific and public health insights and shorten the time it takes for COVID-19 information and solutions to save lives. Our HHS efforts are enabling a data-driven ecosystem for everyone. Based on public feedback and interaction with the COVID-19 datasets, this open-data ecosystem will evolve while guided by these principles: Transparency. Sharing. Privacy. Security. Community.

Today’s unprecedented pandemic demands near-real-time data sharing across government, across diverse sectors, and with the public. HHS is aggressively responding to this call-to-action by responsibly unlocking information wherever our societal benefits of data access outweigh the potential risks. This is a collaborative effort led by HHS Office of the Chief Data Officer, within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, in close coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local/state/tribal governments, HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and the White House U.S. Digital Service.

Beyond the whole-of-government response, COVID-19 necessitates a whole-of-America response. Your public input so far has enabled HHS to identify and prioritize information of highest value. We appreciate the hard-working journalists, data scientists, academic healthcare researchers, business innovators, and Americans who are giving time, energy, and insights to help us responsibly open data related to the novel coronavirus.

The data reporting is one part of the whole-of-government response and is to ensure that every patient requiring hospitalization receives the care they need. Patients should not be discouraged from seeking hospital care based on their interpretation of the data. Hospitals have protocols in place to keep patients safe from exposure and to ensure all patients are prioritized for care. By working together across sectors, we are harnessing all capabilities and resources to unleash the power of U.S. data for the COVID-19 response.

Together, we can combat COVID-19.

Disclaimer: Please visit the CDC’s website on COVID-19 for the most up-to-date information and COVID-19 guidance.

Today marks the launch of the Older Adults Health Data Collection – a new resource cataloging over 200 Federal datasets previously available on Data.gov related to the health of older Americans. This centralized location will assist experts from academia, industry, government, civil society, and the public in accessing datasets from various Federal agencies and across a range of health-related issues (e.g. health status, health risks and behaviors, and health care) to advance our collective knowledge and understanding of the health of older adults.

Analyzing data on the older adult population in the time periods before, during, and after the pandemic is an important step to gaining a better understanding of both the health of this age group as well the immediate and long-term impacts of the pandemic. The Older Adults Health Data Collection contains datasets that capture outcomes directly related to COVID-19 as well as others that do not, and the number of COVID-19 related datasets in the collection is anticipated to grow over time. Datasets without COVID-19-specific data elements still provide important context on the health of older adults before the pandemic and are likely to incorporate COVID-19 data elements in their data collection procedures in the months and years to come.

Demographic trends underscore just how vital it will be to understand this growing population group. By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 years and older. Over the next 40 years, the number of Americans 65 years and older will almost double.¹ COVID-19 has also significantly impacted this age group, as underscored by evidence that older adults have experienced the highest hospitalization and morbidity rates from the pandemic.² This is partly the result of older adults having high rates of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and cancer, which are the Nation’s leading drivers of illness, disability, deaths, and health care costs. 

Projected number of older adults in the United States1	Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–associated hospitalization rates2

This new resource aligns with the intent of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 and directives in the Federal Data Strategy 2020 Action Plan, both of which encourage increased public access to Government data, collaboration with non-Government entities, interagency collaboration, and protection of data security and confidentiality.  This data collection also supports the efforts of the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics, which aims to improve the quality and utility of data on the aging population.  Two of the Aging Forum’s goals include encouraging cross-national research on the aging population and promoting communication among data producers, researchers, and public policymakers. Additional non-health and non-Federal datasets related to older adults are available at agingstats.gov.

As the first national open data site, Data.gov is the ideal platform to provide a wide variety of stakeholders with access to the Older Adults Health Data Collection. Data in this collection has been made available in open formats while ensuring privacy and security, consistent with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies governing data use, disclosure, and sharing. By reducing the time spent searching for data on the health of older adults from hours to seconds, the Older Adults Health Data Collection serves as a helpful resource to put Federal data to work on behalf of Americans.

To access the Older Adults Health Data Collection, follow this link: https://catalog.data.gov/group/older-adults-health-data

Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 National Population Projections.
2. Garg S, Kim L, Whitaker M, et al. Hospitalization Rates and Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized with Laboratory-Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 — COVID-NET, 14 States, March 1–30, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:458–4  64. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6915e3

Vijeth Iyengar, PhD, is a Policy Advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Mark C. Bicket, MD, PhD, is a White House Fellow at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

September 16-18, 2015

The National Academy of Sciences Building
Washington, DC

The Transportation Research Board will host a conference September 16-18, 2015 to provide transportation professionals with information about emerging best practices and research results on how to adapt surface transportation networks to the potential impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. The conference will examine efforts to mainstream consideration of climate change and extreme weather resilience in all aspects of the transportation sector, including planning and programming, capital improvements, and operations and maintenance.

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is partnering with Microsoft to launch the “Innovation Challenge,” a competition to develop software applications that help farmers, agriculture businesses, and consumers explore how climate change will affect their food systems.

The Innovation Challenge was formally launched on July 27^th at a conference of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association in San Francisco. Challenge participants have 3 months to create their applications, with a top prize of $25,000 going to the most creative application that best exploits USDA data sets that are now being hosted on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Entrants are invited to develop and publish new applications and tools that can help users analyze multiple sources of information, including key USDA data sets. In addition, Microsoft is granting cloud computing awards to aid university researchers and students that are looking to take part in the challenge.  Challenge winners will be announced in December 2015.

Full details of the challenge can be found at >http://usdaapps.challengepost.com<.

To help communities, governments, businesses, and research institutions better understand and plan for the risks of storms, floods, and other climate-change-related impacts, the U.S. Government is enhancing accessibility and releasing today a collection of datasets containing scientific and technical information that may help inform the current and potential future effects of climate change on energy and infrastructure.

These data are also being made available via mapping services on Geoplatform.gov. The resources provided here can be used to explore and develop insights for a number of relevant questions, such as:

1) How are fundamental energy resources impacted by climate?

2) How might changes in climate and natural resource availability impact energy conversion infrastructure and processes?

3) How might climate impact energy transmission and distribution systems?

4) How might energy demands be impacted by climate change, including heating and cooling but also energy losses and energy used for adaptation by other sectors?

5) What capacity do we currently have to adapt energy systems, and how might technology solutions, systems designs, and operational changes improve energy system resilience for climate change?

6) How might climate change impact energy infrastructure and its interactions with networked and interconnected infrastructure systems?