Vibrant Planet Data Commons
Vibrant Planet Data Commons is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that publishes open-license geospatial wildfire hazard and risk datasets, anchored by a CAL FIRE-funded statewide California model (2020-2035), serving researchers, government agencies, tribal nations, and NGOs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersSpokane, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Vibrant Planet Data Commons does
Vibrant Planet Data Commons (VPDC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2020 and headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Its mission is to host and generate open science focused on community and ecosystem resilience to wildfire and climate change, and it operates as a public repository of geospatial wildfire hazard and risk data published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. The organization connects grant funders with scientists to develop cutting-edge datasets and stories, and collaborates with its sister company Vibrant Planet (a public benefit corporation) whose Pyrologix division provides the underlying modeling.
VPDC's core product is a statewide 30-meter resolution wildfire hazard and risk modeling suite for California, developed under the CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Program grant, with coverage also extending to portions of northwestern Nevada within the BLM Northern California District. The technical stack includes fuelscape layers (FM40 surface fire behavior fuel model, canopy cover, height, base height, bulk density), calibrated FSim fire occurrence and spread modeling across 14 Fire Occurrence Areas, and WildEST fire behavior simulations producing more than 20 outputs covering flame front characteristics, fire type probabilities, operational control likelihoods, ember transport, and risk to highly valued resources and assets. Datasets are distributed through self-serve downloads via AWS S3 and supplemented with Jupyter/Google Colab notebooks hosted on GitHub.
The organization is funded by grants and donations from a small set of institutional partners including CAL FIRE, Resources Legacy Fund, USDA, Cisco, and Conservation X Labs, and does not sell its data for noncommercial use. Its audiences span federal, state, and tribal government agencies, academic and research institutions, NGOs, and private-sector organizations using the data for fuels planning, strategic risk assessment, treatment evaluation, and fire-adapted community planning. VPDC complements its data releases with a Data Stories narrative layer and a Tribal Stewardship Program led by an Indigenous Data Sharing Program Manager from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
Vibrant Planet Data Commons firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Vibrant Planet Data Commons
- Legal name
- Vibrant Planet Data Commons
- Website
- https://vpdatacommons.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Vibrant Planet Data Commons is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that publishes open-license geospatial wildfire hazard and risk datasets, anchored by a CAL FIRE-funded statewide California model (2020-2035), serving researchers, government agencies, tribal nations, and NGOs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Vibrant Planet Data Commons industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Geospatial Wildfire Risk Analytics
- NAICS
- Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climate Policy, Governance & NDC Support (BPADALAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Climate Finance, Carbon Markets & MRV Systems (BPADALAB), Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)
Keywords
Where Vibrant Planet Data Commons is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Spokane
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Vibrant Planet Data Commons business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Grant Funding: VPDC is funded through grants and donations, collaborating with various funders including their sister company Vibrant Planet (a public benefit corporation). The organization is a 501c3 tax-exempt nonprofit, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free access for noncommercial use |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Vibrant Planet Data Commons product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Vibrant Planet Data Commons (VPDC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that hosts and generates open science focused on community and ecosystem resilience to wildfire and climate change. It operates a public geospatial data platform offering wildfire hazard and risk modeling datasets — most prominently the CAL FIRE Wildfire Hazard & Risk Modeling Dataset covering California (2020–2035) — alongside fuelscape layers, fire behavior simulations, and risk outputs produced with FSim and WildEST tools.
Product overview
Vibrant Planet Data Commons is a 501c3 nonprofit organization operating as an open science platform focused on wildfire and climate resilience. The core offering consists of the Open Science Data Platform, which hosts freely available geospatial datasets and models, anchored by the flagship CAL FIRE Wildfire Hazard & Risk Modeling Dataset covering California from 2020-2035. The platform is complemented by Data Stories that contextualize scientific findings through narrative, and the Tribal Stewardship Program that integrates Indigenous Knowledge into the research framework. All data is openly published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license for educational and scientific exploration.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CAL FIRE Wildfire Hazard & Risk Modeling Dataset (2020–2035)
Quantifiable outcome
- Datasets cover 50,000+ communities at risk of wildfire in the western US
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Vibrant Planet Data Commons
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Vibrant Planet Data Commons technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Vibrant Planet Data Commons partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Vibrant PlanetcoreVibrant Planet is described as VPDC's 'sister company' and is a public benefit corporation. VPDC collaborates with Vibrant Planet to develop and share publicly available scientific data and insights. Vibrant Planet's Pyrologix division provides the information hosted on the VPDC site. Vibrant Planet Data Commons and Vibrant Planet work together on wildfire mitigation and climate change initiatives.
- PyrologixcorePyrologix is the division of Vibrant Planet that provides the information hosted on the VPDC site. Pyrologix developed the CAL FIRE wildfire hazard and risk modeling datasets, including fuelscape layers, FSim fire occurrence modeling, and WildEST fire behavior simulations.
- CAL FIREcoreCAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) is a key partner providing funding through the Forest Health Research Program grant for modeling current and future wildfire hazard and risk in California. The datasets are developed under the CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Program grant.
- USDAmajorUSDA (United States Department of Agriculture) is listed as a collaborating organization working with VPDC on forest and wildfire resilience initiatives.
- CiscomajorCisco is listed as a collaborating organization supporting VPDC's open science and data initiatives for wildfire and climate resilience.
- Good MachineminorGood Machine is listed as a collaborating organization working with VPDC on data and technology initiatives.
- Sustainable NorthwestminorSustainable Northwest is listed as a collaborating organization working on forest and wildfire resilience.
- Climate Smart Wood GroupminorClimate Smart Wood Group is listed as a collaborating organization supporting sustainable forest and wood product initiatives related to wildfire resilience.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Vibrant Planet Data Commons competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Vibrant Planet: Public benefit corporation and self-described 'sister company' of VPDC, providing commercial wildfire mitigation and forest resilience planning software that integrates Pyrologix modeling outputs. Most direct comparable given shared mission, shared leadership lineage, and shared underlying science.
- Pyrologix: Specialized fire behavior and risk modeling division of Vibrant Planet that produces the fuelscape, FSim, and WildEST datasets hosted by VPDC. Effectively the upstream scientific engine for VPDC's data commons.
- First Street Foundation: 501(c)(3) nonprofit producing peer-reviewed climate and environmental risk data (flood, fire, heat, wind) at property level. Highly comparable as a grant-funded open climate-risk data nonprofit serving researchers, governments, and the public.
- Spatial Informatics Group: Applied research firm specializing in wildfire behavior modeling, fuels treatment analysis, and forest health geospatial analytics. Comparable as a provider of wildfire hazard and risk modeling outputs to agencies and tribes.
- Risk Factor: Public-facing property-level climate risk tool built on First Street Foundation data, including wildfire risk to individual homes. Comparable as a downstream consumer and communicator of open wildfire/climate risk data.
Emerging players
- Headwaters Economics: Independent nonprofit research organization producing data and policy analysis on land use, wildfire, and rural economies in the western US. Comparable as a nonprofit producing open wildfire-relevant research and data products for planners and policymakers.
- Element 84: Geospatial software consultancy that builds open-source tooling for processing large Earth observation datasets, including wildfire and land-cover analytics. Comparable as a technical enabler for organizations publishing open geospatial fire data.
Broad incumbents
- Descartes Labs: Geospatial analytics platform applying AI/ML to satellite imagery for agriculture, forestry, and environmental monitoring. Comparable as a provider of large-scale geospatial analytics infrastructure that can serve wildfire and forest resilience use cases.
- Planet Labs: Public satellite imagery company with daily global coverage used for forestry, wildfire monitoring, and environmental change detection. Comparable as an upstream data provider whose imagery underpins many wildfire-risk products.
Others
- Conservation X Labs: Technology-focused conservation organization and the only disclosed investor in VPDC (March 2025). Comparable as a conservation-adjacent funding and innovation partner supporting open-data environmental initiatives.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Vibrant Planet Data Commons social profiles
Digital presenceVibrant Planet Data Commons financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Vibrant Planet Data Commons leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Vibrant Planet Data Commons funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Vibrant Planet Data Commons M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Vibrant Planet Data Commons
What does Vibrant Planet Data Commons do?
Vibrant Planet Data Commons (VPDC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that hosts and generates open science focused on community and ecosystem resilience to wildfire and climate change. It operates a public geospatial data platform offering wildfire hazard and risk modeling datasets — most prominently the CAL FIRE Wildfire Hazard & Risk Modeling Dataset covering California (2020–2035) — alongside fuelscape layers, fire behavior simulations, and risk outputs produced with FSim and WildEST tools.
Is Vibrant Planet Data Commons a public or private company?
Vibrant Planet Data Commons is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Vibrant Planet Data Commons founded?
Vibrant Planet Data Commons was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Vibrant Planet Data Commons based?
Vibrant Planet Data Commons is headquartered in Spokane, United States, in the North America region.
How does Vibrant Planet Data Commons make money?
One revenue line is on record: grant Funding.
Who are Vibrant Planet Data Commons's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Vibrant Planet, Pyrologix, First Street Foundation, Spatial Informatics Group and Risk Factor. Emerging players are Headwaters Economics and Element 84. Broad incumbents are Descartes Labs and Planet Labs. Conservation X Labs is listed as an others.
Does Vibrant Planet Data Commons have an API?
No public API is recorded for Vibrant Planet Data Commons.
What industry is Vibrant Planet Data Commons in?
Vibrant Planet Data Commons's product category is Geospatial Wildfire Risk Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADALAA, Climate Policy, Governance & NDC Support, with a secondary code of BPADALAB, Climate Finance, Carbon Markets & MRV Systems. Its NAICS code is 813312.