linked/open dataWHY YOU SHOULD USE IT AND WHERE YOU CAN TAKE IT

Peter Jarrett

what is it? Open data:

Any data that is released to the public under a suitable open licence such as the Open Government Licence

The data is allowed to be reused and redistributed for any purpose

Linked data: As above, but the data is also structured so that it is machine

readable

Data is easily interrogated and queried

Links between data give context and added value

The pinnacle of open data – 5* on Tim Berners-Lee’s scale

why publish open data? Accountability/transparency

More informed citizens can make better decisions

Community can easily check their views are being heard

Reduction in FOI requests Cost savings because all but sensitive data is already accessible

Potential to aide business & innovation

It’s the law! At least in part, and likely to become more so

Open data strategies, white paper

why publish linked open data? Increases the potential of the data

More easily reusable by businesses and the community

Added value through links to related data

Ability to pinpoint exact data values – useful for FOIs

Data kept in one place Only 1 update required to update any number of systems built on the

data

The ideal standard for open data, as set out by Tim Berners-Lee A view echoed by central government

the future of linked/open data Real-time information on the web

Pull key info from the data store – auto updating content

Applications on top of the data: Businesses using the data as part of their commercial products

Web apps that produce more engaging visualisations of the data Eg infographics, pie charts etc

Reporting applications for quick dataset comparison Could be used internally to identify correlations between datasets

Integration with GIS 1 place to update the data

Can plot geographic information pulled from the data eg school locations