By Jennifer Bell on 2010-01-22 22:17:28 ·
- London, England, launched its catalogue of open data: ‘London Data Store’ with 200 data sets. Read BBC coverage here.
- Shortly following, the United Kingdom launched their official federal data catalogue, data.gov.uk, which by some reports puts the US's data.gov to shame. More coverage is here, and an interview with Tim Berner's Lee, who helped put it all together, is here. The Open Knowledge Foundation’s (a UK non-profit’s) CKAN powers the back end technology. In an interesting forward-looking move, the UK's Office of Public Sector Information is planning to create provisions to buy or liscense the best of the apps created using the data.
- Six months after the launch of San Francisco’s catalogue, dataSF.org, GovFresh posts a round-up of 17 apps using the information to help citizens get around, be safe, find parking, and generally learn about their neighbourhoods.
- FrontSeat launched CityGoRound, a website listing web sites and IPhone apps based on open transit data, encouraging cities to make their data available.
- Worth noting: US President Barack Obama got together with a number of business and high tech leaders to talk about strategies for modernizing government, providing better customer service, and streamlining operations. (Sounds great.)
In Canada
- Edmonton launched its open data catalogue, becoming the fourth city in Canada to do so. The catalogue is the first one by a North American city to use a new Microsoft product, the Open Government Data Initiative platform. Read news coverage by the Edmonton Journal, and/or an account from the point of view of the volunteers and city workers who put it together. A report on open data prepared by the city, which includes a timeline for the site, is here (pdf).
- Vancouver released an upgraded version of its catalogue with more data sets, and a particular emphasis on geospatial information. Kevin Bowers, Manager of IT Technology Planning at the City of Vancouver posted here on how updating information on the website is now part of the city’s routine procedures.
- K. Bower’s note reminded me of a comment at WiredCamp from Phillip Scott, an IT manager involved with the City of Toronto's catalogue, that “the city looks at open data as part of routine disclosure”. If only all Canadian governments saw things that way.
- Note: There are rumours of an open data initiative underway at the city of Ottawa, though no formal announcement as of yet. See comment #2 here. Good job in advance, you folks.
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