Deployed S3 Interface and S3 Browser UI

A core part of the mission here at Data for Canada is modernizing how we access, store, and interact with public datasets. Today, we are excited to announce a step forward in our infrastructure with the deployment of a new S3-compatible API and a companion web-based explorer.

These two tools are designed to serve both programmatic workflows and everyday discovery.

1. The Programmatic S3 Interface

developmentseed/multistore has been successfully deployed to https://s3.dataforcanada.org/. This is the exact same technology utilized by the Source Cooperative read-only data proxy. To give you an idea of its proven scalability, this proxy recently served over 1 billion requests and transferred just under 3PB of data in April 2026 alone. (You can read more about these metrics in Jed Sundwall’s recent LinkedIn announcement).

For data pipelines and cloud-native workflows, standard access protocols are everything. Multistore provides a robust S3-compatible interface, allowing developers, researchers, and data engineers to interact with our hosted datasets using familiar S3 tools and libraries. Whether you are automating data pipelines, querying cloud-optimized formats directly over the network, or syncing large datasets, this endpoint ensures that data retrieval is fast, scalable, and standardized.

    flowchart TD
    Client(["🌐 S3 Client / User"])
    Gateway["<b>s3.dataforcanada.org</b>\nS3-Compatible Gateway"]

    Client -->|"S3 API Request"| Gateway

    Gateway -->|"sourcecooperative bucket"| AWS
    Gateway -->|"backblaze-ca-east-006 bucket"| BB
    Gateway -->|"cloudflare-apac bucket"| CFAPAC
    Gateway -->|"cloudflare-enam bucket"| CFENAM
    Gateway -->|"tigris bucket"| TIGRIS

    subgraph AWS ["☁️ Amazon Web Services"]
        AWSNode["📍 Oregon, United States"]
    end

    subgraph BB ["🔵 Backblaze B2"]
        BBNode["📍 Toronto, ON, Canada"]
    end

    subgraph CFAPAC ["🟠 Cloudflare R2"]
        CFAPACNode["📍 Asia Pacific Region"]
    end

    subgraph CFENAM ["🟠 Cloudflare R2"]
        CFENAMNode["📍 Eastern North America"]
    end

    subgraph TIGRIS ["⚡ Tigris Data"]
        TIGRISNode["11 Regions Worldwide 🌍\nAuto-routes to nearest location\nfor lowest latency"]
    end

    style Gateway fill:#1a5f7a,color:#fff,stroke:#0d3d52
    style Client fill:#2d6a4f,color:#fff,stroke:#1b4332
    style AWSNode fill:#ff9900,color:#000,stroke:#cc7a00
    style BBNode fill:#e03c31,color:#fff,stroke:#b02d24
    style CFAPACNode fill:#f6821f,color:#fff,stroke:#c4681a
    style CFENAMNode fill:#f6821f,color:#fff,stroke:#c4681a
    style TIGRISNode fill:#6c3483,color:#fff,stroke:#512e6b
  

2. The S3 Browser UI

To complement the API, we have also deployed walkthru-earth/objex to https://objex.labs.dataforcanada.org/.

While an S3 API is perfect for code, sometimes you just need to look around. Objex provides a lightweight, clean, and intuitive web interface for browsing our storage buckets. This allows anyone to navigate through directory structures, discover what files are available, and download data directly from their browser—no command-line tools or specialized software required.

Supported Formats

As of May 3, 2026, objex supports over 100 file formats.

What’s Next?

By pairing a standardized S3 API with a human-readable explorer, we are bridging the gap between heavy-duty engineering requirements and general public accessibility.

Take a look around the new explorer, test out the S3 endpoint in your workflows, and stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build out the Data for Canada infrastructure!