€27bn public data opportunity highlighted

THE OBAMA administration, the British cabinet office and four Dublin local authorities are the “poster children” of a growing…

THE OBAMA administration, the British cabinet office and four Dublin local authorities are the “poster children” of a growing worldwide movement to unlock public data, according to researchers at NUI Galway.

Public data, or basic information collected by government and other bodies, is valued at €27 billion across the EU.

However, more State bodies need to realise the potential benefits of making such basic information not only available, but also accessible, an open data conference run by NUI Galway’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (Deri) heard this week.

Since Barack Obama was elected, all data in the US is public by default unless an argument can be made to restrict access, Deirdre Lee, Deri eGovernment researcher, explained.

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In Ireland, Fingal County Council pioneered an initiative late last year with the three other local authorities in the capital to create in the Dublinked data network (dublinked.ie).

The network comprises more than 100 environmental, traffic and planning data sets including planning applications, water flow, rainfall and energy monitoring, air, water pollution and noise maps for the Dublin region, and details of traffic volumes and parking.

“Open data” does not include personal information, and much of it is core information such as statistics, demographics, water quality information and other material currently on websites of public bodies.

“The problem is local authorities often want to ensure the material is perfect before putting it on a website, whereas the open data philosophy is to ‘go ugly, go early’ and release it,” she said.

Not only does it ensure accountability and transparency, but it can encourage public participation in key decisions – such as where to place cycle routes, how to make the best use of public transport, and where to build new schools, Ms Lee continued.

Deri has been developing data integration tools to allow for better use of information on the web, and an open data approach does not necessarily have to cost money, she said.

The EU’s public sector information (PSI) directive of 2003 introduced a common legislative framework to regulate how public sector bodies should make their information available for re-use. It aimed to eradicate discriminatory practices and monopoly markets and encourage transparency.

All 27 member states including Ireland have implemented the directive, but Ireland’s PSI licence does not conform to international definitions of open data, Deri linked data researcher Richard Cyganiak told the conference.

However, he noted that bodies like the Central Statistics Office and the Marine Institute were ahead of the open data movement, in publishing certain material.

The conference at Deri was held as part of Irish Open Data week which featured events in Dublin, Cork and Galway, focusing on the potential uses of open data for a variety of purposes.

At an event in Dublin Joan Mulvihill, chief executive of the Irish Internet Association, said government policy that championed a coherent and reliable approach to open data would allow Irish gaming companies to lead the way in the commercialisation of government data.

“In terms of commercial opportunities, we have identified gaming as a really great strength that we have here. If you’re looking to take open data to the next level, catch up with where other countries are, and actually leapfrog that, then gaming, social, the convergence of all of those with open data, I think that presents a really strong opportunity.”

She said the sharing of state data was an opportunity to “provide efficiencies for government, better services and applications for citizens, and great opportunities for developers to start businesses”.

However, she said more coherent support is needed from government to enable this.