--- title: "Tiers: Data & licensing | Nexus Observatory" description: "Tiers, inside Data & licensing: publish-subscribe telemetry, message queuing between services, event envelopes, event-driven API descriptions and more." url: https://observatory.global/data-products/tiers/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Data & licensing](https://observatory.global/data-products/) / **Tiers** # Research, commercial, enterprise, government. Tiers, inside Data & licensing: publish-subscribe telemetry, message queuing between services, event envelopes, event-driven API descriptions and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from OASIS MQTT 5.0 to OASIS AMQP 1.0 (ISO/IEC 19464), and runs on the open Observatory Protocol. [Plan with us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Architecture [The protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/specification/) **Technologies**: 9 **At the frontier**: 0 **Protocol functions**: 3 of 8 **Industries served**: 19 Reference design, drawn to scale · drag to turn · hover a part **01** What it is ## Ingest and streaming. How observations move from the edge into stores, catalogues and APIs with their provenance, licence and residency attached, and how they interoperate through open standards and the open Observatory Protocol. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against. Data, software and interoperability ### Publish-subscribe telemetry Brokered telemetry from gateways and nodes with sessions and quality-of-service levels. We design, integrate and operate. OASIS MQTT 5.0 Data, software and interoperability ### Message queuing between services Reliable, typed messaging between platform services. We design and integrate. OASIS AMQP 1.0 (ISO/IEC 19464) Data, software and interoperability ### Event envelopes A common envelope for events so producers and consumers agree on source, type and time. We design and integrate. CloudEvents 1.0 (CNCF) Data, software and interoperability ### Event-driven API descriptions Machine-readable contracts for streams and topics. We design and integrate. AsyncAPI 3.0 Data, software and interoperability ### Meteorological data exchange Pub-sub distribution of observations and products between weather services. We design, integrate and operate. WMO Information System 2.0 (WIS2) · WMO-No. 306 Manual on Codes (BUFR) Data, software and interoperability ### Schemas and data contracts Validated payload schemas versioned with the producers that emit them. We design and operate. JSON Schema 2020-12 Data, software and interoperability ### Timestamps and time zones Unambiguous time encoding and event-time versus ingest-time handling. We design. ISO 8601-1:2019 · IETF RFC 3339 Data, software and interoperability ### Edge filtering and store-and-forward Reducing, buffering and replaying data at the edge when links are poor. We design, integrate and operate. IETF RFC 9171 (Bundle Protocol v7) Data, software and interoperability ### Time-series stores Stores optimised for high-rate, append-mostly observations with downsampling and retention. We design, integrate and operate. OGC TimeseriesML 1.0 · OGC WaterML 2.0 Part 1 **02** Architecture ## Where it sits, and what it speaks. Tiers draws on 1 domain and 8 layers of the spectrum; the highlighted layers carry this area. It speaks 3 of the protocol's 8 core functions. Ingest and streaming 8 Storage and data lakes 6 Metadata, provenance and catalogues 8 Open standards and interoperability 7 APIs and SDKs 7 Licensing, residency and governance 8 Digital twins and observability 7 Open protocol interfaces and federation 8 01**Join** Identity, attestation quote, signed policy. 02**Admit** Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider. 03**Describe** What, where, how and by whom, with calibration. 04**Time** One clock across the grid, with its error bound. 05**Observe** Every value with quality and provenance. 06**Qualify** Tested against the specification, state on record. 07**Federate** Signed exchange across grids and trust domains. 08**Orchestrate** Software and configuration by signed plan. **03** On the grid ## Every site joins one observing grid. The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into. A site built here enrols into the same grid. **04** In the field ## Where this runs, sector by sector. 5 deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on tiers. [Government and public safety Urban street-flood sensor networkOpen-hardware depth sensors with open data and alerts to emergency management.](https://observatory.global/sectors/public-safety/) [Communities and rural Indigenous-owned community cellularUnused 800 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum through an access-licensing framework with a priority window for Indigenous applicants.](https://observatory.global/sectors/communities/) [Scientific Citizen seismology and school seismographsCompact seismographs feeding open data networks.](https://observatory.global/sectors/scientific/) [Environment and climate Biodiversity measurement with acoustics and camera trapsAcoustic baselines as a biodiversity data source; no registry methodology accepting acoustic data was found.](https://observatory.global/sectors/environment/) [Energy Bankable solar and wind measurement campaignsAccepted standards, traceable calibration and transparent data handling.](https://observatory.global/sectors/energy/) **05** Open and enterprise ## Open by default. Enterprise by contract. The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract. Open, on the main site - Open tier - Dataset cards Enterprise, on this site - Paid tiers - Residency by contract **06** The rest of the line ## Data & licensing, area by area. [Data & licensing ProductsObservations, derived layers and evidence.](https://observatory.global/data-products/products/) [Data & licensing APIOne interface for every product.](https://observatory.global/data-products/api/) [Data & licensing PublicationRoutes from licensed to open release.](https://observatory.global/data-products/publication/) [Data & licensing ResidencyWhere data lives, fixed by contract.](https://observatory.global/data-products/residency/) ## Bring us the site. Survey, design, deployment and operation for tiers. The form names who receives your details. [Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) [contact@observatory.global](mailto:contact@observatory.global?subject=Data%20%26%20licensing%3A%20Tiers) [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)**Data & licensing** . Grid data, licensed for your use.[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Data & licensing - [Products](https://observatory.global/data-products/products/) - [Tiers](https://observatory.global/data-products/tiers/) - [API](https://observatory.global/data-products/api/) - [Publication](https://observatory.global/data-products/publication/) - [Residency](https://observatory.global/data-products/residency/) Technologies - [Ingest and streaming](https://observatory.global/technologies/data/ingest-and-streaming/) - [Storage and data lakes](https://observatory.global/technologies/data/storage-and-data-lakes/) Industries - [Government](https://observatory.global/industries/) - [Cities](https://observatory.global/sectors/cities/) - [Civil resilience](https://observatory.global/industries/) - [Communities](https://observatory.global/sectors/communities/) - [Humanitarian](https://observatory.global/sectors/humanitarian/) - [Climate](https://observatory.global/industries/) - [Water](https://observatory.global/industries/) Service platforms - [Observatory Protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/) - [Protocol & Grid](https://observatory.global/grid-services/) - [Software](https://observatory.global/software/) - [Hardware & power](https://observatory.global/hardware/) - [Sensors & instruments](https://observatory.global/sensors/) - [Connectivity](https://observatory.global/connectivity/) - [Edge compute & AI](https://observatory.global/edge-ai/) © 2026 Nexus Observatory Inc. [Privacy](https://observatory.global/legal/privacy/) [Terms](https://observatory.global/legal/terms/) [Accessibility](https://observatory.global/legal/accessibility/) [Cookie settings](https://observatory.global/privacy-choices/) [Data credits](https://observatory.global/credits/)