What am I checking out? Radiant doesn't appear to actually be anything or do anything. That page appears to be a vague description of a thing that purports to provide access to data but doesn't actually provide any information on how to get it.
It's an initiative that has been backed by the Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network. There have been a few press releases about the goals of Radiant, e.g. [1][2]. I shared the link with the intent of simply pointing to their mission, which is to provide free access to a wealth of geospatial data.
I don't know where the project stands at present, so I dont have an objective measure to discriminate between what they claim to be doing and what they're actually doing.
Coincidentally, I had a meeting in DC today at the Omidyar Network and Radiant was mentioned briefly in the context of providing startups with a way to bootstrap without spending large chunks of money on acquiring geospatial data.
