Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder of Zomato, recently unveiled 'Weather Union,' a novel venture that represents India's inaugural crowd-supported weather infrastructure. This initiative is designed to provide accurate and localized weather information in real time to both the public and various organizations, thereby facilitating smarter decision-making and boosting sector-wide productivity.

The project encompasses a robust network of over 650 terrestrial weather stations across India, currently spanning 45 major cities with plans for expansion. "Zomato has developed these stations to deliver instantaneous updates on essential weather metrics like temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall," Goyal mentioned during his release on X (formerly Twitter).

In a move towards community engagement, Goyal announced that Zomato will offer unrestricted access to this critical weather data through an Application Programming Interface (API). "Wait. What? Free? Really? Yes, we're committed to making this data widely available rather than keeping it exclusive or commercialized; this is our way of giving back," he stated.

This initiative, named 'Zomato Giveback,' seeks to empower organizations and research entities with precise weather data to enhance economic productivity. Goyal highlighted Zomato's collaboration with CAS – IIT Delhi and anticipates further partnerships.

Weather Union was born out of Zomato's necessity for accurate weather data to improve its service offerings. "For Zomato, having access to real-time, reliable weather data was vital for making informed operational decisions to serve our customers better. We decided to take the initiative to develop a solution that would bolster our capabilities," Goyal elaborated on the motivation behind the project.

With plans to enlarge its network, Weather Union is appealing for volunteers to host weather stations. Goyal emphasized the community-driven nature of this effort, saying, "A number of Zomato employees have already placed weather stations at their residences. We are excited to expand this setup and are inviting volunteers who are willing to allocate space on their premises for station installations, aiding in national development."

Weather Union not only serves as a benchmark for private sector contributions to public data infrastructure but also demonstrates a progressive approach to using technology for societal benefits.