AWS and National Geographic Society Build a Living Library for 138 Years of Exploration
Data Infrastructure / Infrastructure Management | 5 min read
The National Geographic Society and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced a landmark partnership to centralise the Society's vast archives into a single, AI-powered "living library" hosted on AWS Cloud. The initiative centres on migrating nearly 15 petabytes of history — spanning deep-sea exploration footage, archaeological records, historic maps, and iconic photography — into a customised media platform. In doing so, AWS becomes the Society's preferred cloud provider, powering both the long-term preservation of 138 years of exploration and the acceleration of future storytelling for production teams worldwide.
"This initiative is the first step in a multi-year journey where the Society will leverage AWS infrastructure and services to centralize the production and preservation of its media assets. Production teams will be able to quickly discover, access and re-use existing media to create impactful stories about the work our Explorers undertake to study our world."
— Jason Southern, Chief Technology and Information Officer, National Geographic Society
The Scale of the Challenge: Billions of Assets, Two Petabytes Added Every Year
The Society's archives represent one of the most expansive repositories of science and exploration on the planet — but they have historically been distributed across multiple, disconnected sources. The partnership will consolidate these assets into a single centralised digital core, protecting records of planetary history from historic cartography to field photography, and making billions of assets searchable by production teams in real time. Adding to the complexity: the Society currently generates an estimated two petabytes of new video each year — equivalent to approximately 100 days of 4K footage — from programmes including the Impact Story Lab, National Geographic Pristine Seas, and National Geographic Live.
Three Capabilities Powering the Platform
The high-performance media platform — built using Amazon Bedrock and additional AWS services — is designed to activate the Society's archives and accelerate its global mission across three core capabilities:
- • Centralised Digital Core — migrating and consolidating the Society's multi-source archives into a unified system on AWS, creating a single authoritative foundation for one of the most comprehensive archives of science and exploration in the world
- • AI-Powered Discovery — using AWS generative AI to transcribe footage, generate metadata, and identify key individuals and subjects appearing in archival material, enabling production teams to quickly surface existing content and transform it into new impact stories
- • Modernised Storytelling — enabling National Geographic production teams to collaborate on video editing and asset management in real time, significantly shortening the time it takes to move a story from the field to the public — transforming years of documentation into compelling new storytelling at scale
"For over 138 years, the National Geographic Society has documented the wonders of our world, from the ocean floor to the highest peaks, capturing history, inspiring explorers of every age, and building a legacy that is truly irreplaceable. AWS is proud to partner with the Society to ensure every asset becomes an enduring resource as we safeguard the past while powering the next generation of discovery."
— Rick Buettner, Managing Director of Global Nonprofits, AWS
About the National Geographic Society and AWS
The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organisation using the power of science, exploration, education, and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, the Society has provided more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents and reaches three million students each year through education programmes. AWS has democratised cloud computing and generative AI for organisations of every size across nearly two decades — and is trusted by millions of customers, including half of the Fortune 500, to accelerate innovation at scale.
Key Takeaways
- • The National Geographic Society and AWS have partnered to migrate nearly 15 petabytes of the Society's historical archives — from deep-sea footage to archaeological records — into a single AI-powered "living library" on AWS Cloud.
- • AWS becomes the Society's preferred cloud provider — building a customised media platform on Amazon Bedrock that consolidates billions of assets into a real-time, searchable, centralised archive.
- • Three platform capabilities: Centralised Digital Core (unified archive), AI-Powered Discovery (generative AI for transcription, metadata, and identification), and Modernised Storytelling (real-time collaborative video editing and asset management).
- • The Society generates approximately two petabytes of new video annually — equivalent to around 100 days of 4K footage — from programmes including the Impact Story Lab, National Geographic Pristine Seas, and National Geographic Live.
- • The partnership is described as the first step in a multi-year journey — ensuring the Society's 138-year legacy of exploration is not only preserved, but actively activated to inspire, educate, and protect the planet for the next century of discovery.