The Global Seed Vault has been dubbed the “doomsday” vault, as it holds a reserve of seeds for use in case of an apocalyptic event. In addition to that, last week the  World Arctic Archive was opened which is the result of an increasing need to store world's important facts, history and other such information.

The work of converting digital data from the internet onto a durable, photosensitive analog film is being done by a Norwegian company, Piql. The film is expected to last  between 500 to 1,000 years. Countries interested can upload images, documents or audio-visual content onto the servers. The saved information can be searched for as long as the protected servers remain functional. 

Piql founder Rune Bjerkestrand explained that the digital data is preserved on to a photosensitive film. The  data would be sent to film writers in the manner in which office data gets transmitted to the printer. The IT network is secure and the film that is ready cannot be edited. The vault is situated in Svalbard, Norway which is several hundred miles away from the North Pole. The film archive can be found in an abandoned coal mine relatively close to the Global Seed Vault.

Piql preserves information in multiple forms by converting digital information to analog. Analog data could be the only way what’s left of humanity can remember history post-apocalypse.

Some countries like Brazil and Mexico have taken up Piql's offer and have sent information from their respective National Archives to be stored in the Norwegian facility.

It may sound hard to believe, but the doomsday vault has already been opened. In 2015, when Syria's gene bank in Aleppo was destroyed during war,  officials withdrew barley, wheat and grasses native to Syria to replace seeds lost in a gene bank in Syria.