# irlpls > Real-world data on demand, with provenance. An open protocol and router for agents. One call for new observations of the physical world: a reading, photo, video or report, live now or captured to order by people, drones, satellites, dashcams or sensors. A draft standard (version 2026-10-26) and a registry of Capture Cards: what each provider captures, where, how fast, at what price, under what rights, and, guarantee by guarantee, what it evidences and what it only claims. irlpls checks nothing itself, captures nothing, sells no data and takes no cut; you buy from providers directly. Use it when the answer depends on the world as it is now, or when someone goes and looks, and nothing published answers it. Not for archives, news, or facts on a website. ## Start here - [Agent manual](/agents.md): read first. When to use irlpls, the loop, how to report where a result came from, and what is usually missing. - [Catalog index](/catalog.index.json): read before any card. Five question types, 25 ask families with their providers, and what irlpls cannot serve. About 29 KB. - [All Capture Cards](/cards.json): every provider, as JSON. About 1 MB: fetch single cards at /cards/.json instead. - [Reference matcher](/match.js): ranks cards for a need (`IRLMatch.parse`, `IRLMatch.score`). - [Glossary](/glossary.html): the eight provenance links, from capture to delivery. ## Standard - [Specification](/standard.html): Capture Card, discovery, Request, Policy, Job, matching, conformance. - Ordering: Section 14 of the specification is the wire protocol (discover, quote, order with an Idempotency-Key, status, deliver, cancel, at each provider's own endpoint); how an agent uses it is under "Ordering through the protocol" in the [agent manual](/agents.md). - [Changelog](/changelog.html) and [governance](/governance.html). - [Capture Card schema](/2026-10-26/schemas/capture-card.json), [Request](/2026-10-26/schemas/request.json), [Policy](/2026-10-26/schemas/policy.json), [Job](/2026-10-26/schemas/job.json). - A provider's own card: `https:///.well-known/irlpls` (capability `com.irlpls.capture.card`). ## Reference library (not yet published) - Python: `irlpls.request(need, why, policy)` returns a job (questions, plan, ruled_out, submit, results). - MCP tools: irlpls_request, irlpls_answer, irlpls_choose_provider, irlpls_submit, irlpls_get_job, irlpls_find_providers, irlpls_get_card. ## Optional - [EPA AirNow](/cards/airnow.json): The EPA's official real-time Air Quality Index for the US, Canada and Mexico; hourly, free, keyless files. - [Airtasker](/cards/airtasker.json): Post a local task; nearby Taskers offer, and payment is held until you release it. - [ALERTCalifornia cameras (UC San Diego)](/cards/alertcalifornia.json): 1,289 wildfire-watch PTZ cameras across California; latest frame about every 15 s, no key. - [Appen](/cards/appen.json): A training-data vendor whose crowd records custom image, video and audio collections, remote or on-site. - [Awign Robotics Data](/cards/awign-robotics.json): Robotics training data collected to order by a large Indian gig workforce. - [Caltrans highway cameras](/cards/caltrans-cctv.json): About 3,400 California highway cameras, with stills refreshed every few minutes. - [Capella Space](/cards/capella.json): Radar satellites tasked by API, through cloud and at night, with repeat tasking and cost review. - [Claru](/cards/claru.json): Custom-collected egocentric video and teleoperation data for robotics, enriched per clip. - [Copernicus Sentinel (Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem)](/cards/copernicus-sentinel.json): Free EU Sentinel radar and optical satellite imagery, usually online 1-4 hours after each pass. - [Defined.ai](/cards/defined-ai.json): A training-data vendor that commissions custom image, video, speech and sensor collections from a vetted crowd. - [Digitraffic Marine (Finnish AIS vessel positions)](/cards/digitraffic-marine-ais.json): Live AIS ship positions in Finnish waters; free, keyless, CC BY. - [Scout by Dojah](/cards/dojah-scout.json): Nigerian address checks by field agents: GPS-stamped photos and signed verdict. - [DoorDash Tasks](/cards/doordash-tasks.json): Dashers photograph or check a place on request. US, design partners only. - [DroneDeploy Flight Services](/cards/dronedeploy-flight-services.json): DroneDeploy sends a pilot to fly the drone missions you plan in DroneDeploy, in 17 listed countries. - [Empiric Earth (Nexar)](/cards/empiric-earth.json): A dashcam network you can point at a driving scenario, plus live road-detection APIs for approved accounts. - [EMSC SeismicPortal (FDSN event service and live feed)](/cards/emsc-seismicportal.json): Global earthquake catalogue, free keyless FDSN API and websocket. - [Encord](/cards/encord.json): Robotics data to order: teleoperation, gripper and first-person capture, piloted in a lab then run in the field. - [Errand](/cards/errand.json): Agents send a nearby person in Seoul (Gangnam beta) for in-app camera photos and answers. - [Execution Market](/cards/execution-market.json): A crypto-paid bounty marketplace where agents hire people (or other agents) for tasks, incl. GPS-tagged photos. - [Field Agent (now Storesight)](/cards/field-agent.json): Shoppers sent to stores for shelf photos and price checks, from $24 a response (now Storesight). - [Field Nation](/cards/field-nation.json): Dispatch an independent technician to a US or Canadian site, with GPS check-in, photos and sign-off. - [Fintraffic Digitraffic road weather cameras](/cards/fintraffic-weathercams.json): 816 road-weather camera stations across Finland, new stills about every 10 min, CC BY 4.0, no key. - [FlyGuys](/cards/flyguys.json): Nationwide US drone, LiDAR and inspection missions flown by a pilot network. - [FMI Open Data (Finnish Meteorological Institute observations)](/cards/fmi-open-data.json): Finnish weather, sea level, lightning and air quality; keyless, CC BY. - [Freelancer.com (local jobs)](/cards/freelancer.json): Post a local job anywhere; nearby freelancers bid to go and do it. - [GeoNet (New Zealand earthquakes and volcanoes)](/cards/geonet-nz.json): New Zealand earthquakes and volcano alert levels; free, keyless. - [GetterDone](/cards/getterdone.json): Agent-posted bounties for US gig workers: storefront photos, price checks, on-site checks. In-person: Atlanta only. - [Globhe](/cards/globhe.json): Global marketplace of local drone operators; order a capture by API. - [Hire a Human](/cards/hire-a-human.json): A freelance marketplace where AI agents post tasks by API and Veriff-verified people bid to do them. - [Bee Maps (Hivemapper)](/cards/hivemapper.json): A dashcam network that can be asked for fresh imagery or video of a specific street. - [Hover](/cards/hover.json): Texts or emails the homeowner a link; their phone scan becomes a 3D model and measurements. - [Hub'Eau Hydrométrie (France river levels and flow)](/cards/hubeau-hydrometrie.json): Live French river height and flow, about 5,000 stations; keyless. - [Human Archive](/cards/human-archive.json): First-person video, depth, motion and touch data of real work for robot labs, from head-worn rigs and a phone app. - [Human For AI](/cards/human-for-ai.json): One pseudonymous human operator who takes agent tasks by API or MCP, free during a pilot. Signed text receipts. - [ICEYE](/cards/iceye.json): Radar satellites tasked by API on a contract, with price and feasibility checks, products 1-8 hours after capture. - [Kled AI](/cards/kled.json): A consumer app whose ID-checked contributors capture photos, video and audio to a lab's spec, claimed in under 72 hours. - [Lightwheel EgoSuite](/cards/lightwheel.json): Egocentric human demonstration data for physical AI across seven countries. - [LXT (clickworker)](/cards/lxt-clickworker.json): A crowd that photographs and films to your brief, from AI datasets to store shelves, managed by LXT or via an API. - [Mecka](/cards/mecka.json): Robot-learning data to order: paid people record first-person video, motion and touch with Mecka's own sensor kit. - [micro1](/cards/micro1.json): Robotics training data to order: first-person video of everyday and trade tasks, recorded by vetted paid contractors. - [Mundane](/cards/mundane.json): Agent-to-human marketplace: ID-verified people do photo checks, errands and queues; escrow. - [NASA FIRMS active fires](/cards/nasa-firms.json): NASA satellite detections of active fires worldwide, within hours of each overpass, free with no key. - [NATIX Network](/cards/natix.json): Tesla multi-camera driving video from a contributor network, with targeted collection by request. - [NOAA NDBC buoys](/cards/ndbc-buoys.json): NOAA's offshore buoys and coastal stations: wind, waves, sea temperature and buoy-camera photos, free. - [NOAA tide and current stations](/cards/noaa-tides.json): NOAA's coastal and Great Lakes stations: water level, wind and temperature every six minutes. - [NWS weather stations (NOAA)](/cards/nws.json): US weather stations via the National Weather Service API: temperature, wind, pressure, rain and conditions. - [Objectways](/cards/objectways.json): Egocentric, depth and teleoperation data for embodied AI, on demand. - [Open Cosmos DataCosmos](/cards/open-cosmos-datacosmos.json): Task Open Cosmos satellites or buy catalogue imagery by API. - [OpenAQ](/cards/openaq.json): Air-quality readings from government monitors and low-cost sensors in over 100 countries. - [PEGELONLINE (German Federal Waterways)](/cards/pegelonline.json): Live water levels from 786 gauges on German federal waterways, every 1–15 minutes, no key. - [Pixxel](/cards/pixxel.json): Order new hyperspectral satellite captures by API. - [Planet (Planet Labs)](/cards/planet.json): Satellite imagery of anywhere on Earth: near-daily PlanetScope, and new 50 cm SkySat captures from $12 per km2. - [POSpulse (Streetspotr community)](/cards/pospulse-streetspotr.json): German store checks and mystery shopping with photos and GPS. - [Precisely Ground Level Images (via DoorDash Tasks)](/cards/precisely-ground-level-images.json): On-demand exterior photos of US commercial buildings. Quote only. - [Premise](/cards/premise.json): Smartphone crowd in 140+ countries for photo, video and survey tasks; sold by contract, no public API. - [Prolific](/cards/prolific.json): ID-verified people in about 50 countries for paid online studies and uploads; no in-person or on-site tasks. - [ProxyPics](/cards/proxypics.json): A nearby person goes to a US address and takes photos in the ProxyPics app. - [PurpleAir](/cards/purpleair.json): Crowd-hosted air-quality sensors reporting every 2 minutes, read through a prepaid points API. - [Quest](/cards/quest.json): A local-task marketplace in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and San Francisco; agents post tasks over MCP. - [RentAHuman](/cards/rentahuman.json): An agent-first marketplace for paid, in-person tasks done by people. - [Satellogic](/cards/satellogic.json): High-resolution optical satellites tasked by contract through the Aleph Orders API, with 3-hour rush delivery. - [SatVu](/cards/satvu.json): Thermal infrared satellite images of heat, day or night, tasked by API under a SatVu contract. - [Sensor.Community](/cards/sensor-community.json): Citizen PM2.5/PM10, temperature, humidity and noise sensors in 70+ countries, last 5 minutes, no key. - [Shaip](/cards/shaip.json): A managed vendor whose contributors capture consented custom image, video and speech datasets to your spec. - [SkyFi](/cards/skyfi.json): A self-serve marketplace for satellite imagery, including new captures on request. - [SkyWatch EarthCache](/cards/skywatch.json): One API to search and task satellite imagery from many providers. - [Snappr](/cards/snappr.json): Book a vetted professional photographer or videographer to a location; images back via API. - [Spexi](/cards/spexi.json): Drone pilots flying standard missions over US and Canadian neighbourhoods. - [TELUS Digital (AI Data Solutions)](/cards/telus-digital.json): A training-data vendor whose app-based crowd collects custom photos, video and driving data to order. - [TfL JamCams](/cards/tfl-jamcams.json): Latest stills and short clips from about 900 London traffic cameras, free from Transport for London. - [Toloka](/cards/toloka.json): A self-serve platform where vetted contributors record first-person task video to your brief. - [Truelabel](/cards/truelabel.json): Introduces robotics labs to firms that capture physical-AI data to their spec, then checks and processes the delivery. - [Truepic Vision](/cards/truepic-vision.json): Texts or emails a person at the place a capture link; photos are checked for time, GPS spoofing and device integrity. - [Environment Agency real-time flood-monitoring API](/cards/uk-ea-flood.json): England's river, groundwater and rain gauges, UK tide gauges and live flood warnings. Free, no key. - [Umbra](/cards/umbra.json): Radar satellites that image through cloud and at night, tasked by API. - [Unidata](/cards/unidata.json): Egocentric and teleoperation robot data collected to order. - [UP42](/cards/up42.json): One business account to order new satellite, aerial and drone captures from about 20 operators. - [USGS earthquake feed](/cards/usgs-earthquakes.json): New earthquakes worldwide from the USGS, as a free GeoJSON feed updated every minute. - [USGS stream gauges](/cards/usgs-water.json): USGS stream gauges and river cameras, free and near real time. - [Vangrid](/cards/vangrid.json): Pay a USDC bounty by x402 and a contributor films a place; you get a capture link and a 3D model. - [Vantor Hub (WorldView tasking)](/cards/vantor-hub.json): Task WorldView optical, 3D and radar captures by API. - [WeGoLook](/cards/wegolook.json): Sends a local inspector to photograph and video a vehicle or property; online vehicle inspections from $99. - [Windy Webcams](/cards/windy-webcams.json): A directory of public webcams worldwide, with current images through an API. - [WSDOT highway cameras](/cards/wsdot-cameras.json): Live still images from about 1,700 Washington State highway, pass, airport and ferry cameras; free, no key needed. - [XDOF](/cards/xdof.json): Robot training data to order: teleoperation, egocentric capture and real-robot policy evaluations. - [Zeitview](/cards/zeitview.json): Drone inspections of energy, utility and property assets; fixed-price US real estate drone photo packages.