Whenever you check weather forecast online, or use your smartphone to find an all-night drugstore, or calculate how much your city paid for road repairs, you are using Open Data. For a long time, however, doing these now seemingly simple actions that require accessing government data were very difficult, if they were available at all. Open Data are building blocks of modern information society.
The concept of Open Data is very new. It originated with the belief that the enormous amount of information routinely collected by government entities should be available to all citizens. In the late 2000s, governments and entities began to allow a greater number of users access to these resources. The first government policies on Open Data appeared in 2009. Today, more than 250 governments at national, subnational and city levels; almost 50 developed and developing countries; and entities such as the World Bank and United Nations have launched Open Data initiatives—and more are launched every year.
Data are considered to be “open” if anyone can freely use, re-use and redistribute them, for any purpose, without restrictions. While a large amount of data is published on government websites, the majority of published data is intended only to be read as stand-alone documents, not re-used for other purposes. To be considered “open,” the data must be re-usable, meaning they can be downloaded in open formats and read by software, and users are granted a legal right to re-use it.
When data are made widely available and easy to use, the benefits can be significant: They can help streamline government services, stimulate economic opportunities, encourage innovation, improve public safety and reduce poverty. As the benefits of Open Data impact broader populations and additional useful options are discovered, governments and institutions worldwide are eager to launch new or expand existing Open Data programs. It will take time to fully understand the complexity and broad potential of Open Data, which is derived from the “open” environment of licensing. As Open Data is still in its early stages, best practices and communities are just beginning to emerge.
tgherzog
commented
7 years ago
Whenever you check weather forecast online, or use your smartphone to find an all-night drugstore, or calculate how much your city paid for road repairs, you are using Open Data. For a long time, however, doing these now seemingly simple actions that require accessing government data were very difficult, if they were available at all. Open Data are building blocks of modern information society.
The concept of Open Data is very new. It originated with the belief that the enormous amount of information routinely collected by government entities should be available to all citizens. In the late 2000s, governments and entities began to allow a greater number of users access to these resources. The first government policies on Open Data appeared in 2009. Today, more than 250 governments at national, subnational and city levels; almost 50 developed and developing countries; and entities such as the World Bank and United Nations have launched Open Data initiatives—and more are launched every year.
Data are considered to be “open” if anyone can freely use, re-use and redistribute them, for any purpose, without restrictions. While a large amount of data is published on government websites, the majority of published data is intended only to be read as stand-alone documents, not re-used for other purposes. To be considered “open,” the data must be re-usable, meaning they can be downloaded in open formats and read by software, and users are granted a legal right to re-use it.
When data are made widely available and easy to use, the benefits can be significant: They can help streamline government services, stimulate economic opportunities, encourage innovation, improve public safety and reduce poverty. As the benefits of Open Data impact broader populations and additional useful options are discovered, governments and institutions worldwide are eager to launch new or expand existing Open Data programs. It will take time to fully understand the complexity and broad potential of Open Data, which is derived from the “open” environment of licensing. As Open Data is still in its early stages, best practices and communities are just beginning to emerge.