In brief
- The partnership will make weather data available to blockchain applications.
- AccuWeather's Node will broadcast data across blockchains, cryptographically signing it, allowing users to know that it came from them.
It's December, but things are looking sunny for Chainlink use cases.
Weather data provider AccuWeather announced its node on Chainlink went live today. It joins the growing list of organizations using Chainlink's oracle network.
First announced in August 2021, the partnership will make weather data available to blockchain applications. AccuWeather says this will allow developers to create new products like weather predictions, hedging markets, and dynamic NFT art and games based on current weather conditions.
Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather, founded in 1962, says it provides weather information to over 2 billion users across multiple platforms. It tells Decrypt the API, built with the programming language Solidity, will work with Ethereum and Polygon and cost a fee to use, in addition to transaction fees levied by the blockchain.
It adds that the node will broadcast data across blockchains, cryptographically signing it, which will allow users to know that it originated from AccuWeather. Information on temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and natural disasters will be available through the AccuWeather API. Developers can then create smart contracts that ping Accuweather's Chainlink node for weather data.
"From our standpoint, it's about making our data more accessible," AccuWeather Director of Flagship Products Matthew Vitebsky told Decrypt. "So we wanted to make sure that if there are applications that can help expedite warning services or anything like that, they can utilize our data, and it is accessible to them."
Other organizations using Chainlink's protocol include Google and the Associated Press. Google has been collaborating with Chainlink since 2019 to explore oracle uses for its data. In August of this year, Chainlink announced plans to pull Google weather data onto blockchains through an API that queries the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database. And in October of this year, the AP partnered with Chainlink to provide election results, sports outcomes, and corporate financials on-chain.
Vitebsky says the collaboration with Chainlink came into being because Chainlink needed more robust weather data like those provided by AccuWeather’s sources. Will Janensch of Chainlink Labs shared some of those needs in a press release: "Combined with smart contracts, AccuWeather's expansive collection of datasets can be used to power parametric insurance models across numerous global industries and securely optimize weather-dependent supply chains."
Weather info is indeed in high demand—and AccuWeather says it has the bandwidth to supply it.
"AccuWeather API actually does more API hits than Google search each day," Vitebsky says. "We deal with tremendous scale on a global level every single day from websites, apps, vehicles, and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices."