The Rise, Power, and Uncertain Future of America's Open Infrastructure Data

For two decades, the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) Open portal was the bedrock of U.S. disaster response and community planning—a free, authoritative map of the nation's most critical assets. Now, it's gone. This in-depth article explores the profound impact of the recent shutdown of HIFLD Open, from its origins in the wake of 9/11 to its vital role in responding to hurricanes and wildfires. Discover what made this curated government data uniquely powerful for emergency managers and researchers, and why its disappearance leaves a critical void that commercial and crowdsourced maps cannot fill. We examine the consequences of this decision for national resilience and the uncertain future of open data in America.