Industry | 2010.01.24
UK follows US with national data site
Inventor of world wide web brought in for launch of data.gov.uk
First Barack Obama dived in. Today sees Gordon Brown\'s turn to open up government information to the public with the launch of a new website: data.gov.uk
Brown brought in the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, last June as an adviser for the launch of data.gov.uk "so that government information is accessible and useful for the widest possible group of people".
It follows the Obama administration\'s data.gov, launched in May to provide thousands of sets of data about the US to the public – the result of Obama\'s first legislative act as president. Since then Australia and New Zealand have followed suit with official data sites.
In theory the information can be used to provide ultra-local information, even down to postcode level, for things such as crime, health indicators or educational attainment.
The minister for digital Britain, Stephen Timms, said the launch would create new opportunities for businesses. "By allowing industry to use data creatively they can develop new services and generate economic value from it."
This is the first step in that process. Put together on a shoestring budget, at the moment the site simply gives people a place to find public data. Users search for a subject, such as "crime" or "exam results" and the site comes back with the latest data for that topic.
The project has involved some of the country\'s most prestigious software developers in competition, creating examples of what people would do with public-sector information, with a £20,000 prize fund. Among the winners were maps for local recycling, cycle paths, school catchment areas and postbox locations.
Professor Nigel Shadbolt of Southampton University – brought in with Berners-Lee as a fellow adviser – says this is a big day for free information. "Today marks an important step forward in the work the prime minister asked us to lead – it gives data to the public and sets the groundwork for further progress.
"Over the next few weeks and months we will build on this by adding more functions. We are already working with departments, agencies and local authorities to release even more data all the time."
Maurice Frankel, of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said the government had much further to go. "The question is will it get the impetus to keep growing beyond data sets that are available anyway?"
This month the London mayor, Boris Johnson, launched the London Datastore – a set of data collections about the capital – and cities such as Toronto, San Francisco and New York have done the same.
Simon Rogers edits the Guardian\'s Datablog at: guardian.co.uk/datablog
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/dat[...]vernment-data-website-launched
