Beautiful Public Data

Sign in Subscribe

Nuclear Weapon Test Films

Nuclear Weapon Test Films

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories has an archive of an estimated 10,000 films of nuclear weapons tests from the 1940's - 1960's.

All of the 8,291 License Plates in America

All of the 8,291 License Plates in America

States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other groups.

Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones

Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones

Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.

Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon

Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon

The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.

1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins

1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins

Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat propellers leave their marks, imprinting a story of close escapes and cheating death.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility

A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to budget constraints and competing science, and was shut down the day it was dedicated. It was never turned on.

A quilt of 32 black and white mugshot photos from NIST's "Special Database 18".

Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them.

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart

This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s most crucial – and invisible – national assets: the radio spectrum.

Image quilt of hundreds of traffic signs from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

The Style Guide for America’s Highways: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

Driving across America, you will encounter a wide variety of cultures, landscapes, people and animals. But the one consistent thing that will stay the same from Maine to California are the signs you pass on the highway. That is because America’s roads and highways have a big, fat style guide.

A mosaic of images collected from the sea floor showing sand, lobsters, starfish and shells.

Mapping the Sea Floor

USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.

Vehicle Crash Test Films from the 1970's and 1980s

Vehicle Crash Test Films from the 1970's and 1980s

Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some ugly) 70’s and 80’s cars being smashed into smithereens.

Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data

Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data

Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and floodplains.

A Rover's First 590 Days* on Mars

A Rover's First 590 Days* on Mars

I downloaded 60,000 images to experience what NASA's Perseverance rover has been seeing since landing there in Feb. 2021.

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

The GOES-16 Weather Satellite

Weather Featured

The GOES-16 Weather Satellite

Satellites used to observe weather are so ubiquitous it is easy to take them for granted. GOES-16 is worthy of your attention.

The Pillbox Database

The Pillbox Database

The National Library of Medicine's Pillbox dataset contained 8,693 photographs of pills, with an accompanying database of drug information. It was built to help with the identification of unknown pills.

Photologging Vans

Photologging Vans

These sequences are from New York and Connecticut’s state photolog archives, which I obtained through public records requests. Almost every state’s highway departments had highway photolog programs, some dating back as early as 1961. These sequences were captured by specially tricked out vans. The earliest used 16mm film,

Highway Photologs

Photologs Featured

Highway Photologs

Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as 1961. Each year, specially tricked out vans would drive each mile of state road snapping photos to document the status of roadways.