The City of Ghent as
Linked Open Data
Ann Bernaert

@AnnBernaert
Digipolis Gent
Domain responsible web & (linked) open data

2010

Why did I get here?

And then I came back...

2011

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten
2012 First data portal

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten
2013 Open data becomes part of the regular operations
2012 First data portal

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten
2013 Open data becomes part of the regular operations
2014 A new website: http://stad.gent
2012 First data portal
2014 Launch DOT GENT

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten
2013 Open data becomes part of the regular operations
2014 A new website: http://stad.gent
2015 Real-time data
2012 First data portal
2014 Launch DOT GENT

2011 First edition Apps for Ghent
2011 Gentse Feesten
2013 Open data becomes part of the regular operations
2014 A new website: http://stad.gent
2015 Real-time data
2016 Linked Open Data
2012 First data portal
2014 Launch DOT GENT

Why Linked Open Data?

We had stars in our eyes

And we drank too much coffee

… so we decided to go for “5 stars” on http://stad.
gent

What is Linked Open Data?

The Semantic Web
A new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a
revolution of new possibilities
by TIM BERNERS-LEE, JAMES HENDLER and ORA LASSILA
Scientifc American, May 2001
http://www-sop.inria.fr/acacia/cours/essi2006/Scientific%20American_%20Feature%20Article_%20The%20Semantic%20Web_%20May%202001.pdf

1. Use URIs to name (identify) things.
2. Use HTTP URIs so that these things can be looked up
(interpreted, "dereferenced").
3. When a URI is looked up, provide useful information using the
standards such as RDF, SPARQL, etc.
4. Refer to other things using their HTTP URI-based names when
publishing data on the Web, so that they can discover more things
The four rules

Triples
Tom is a Cat

Triples
Tom is a Cat

Triples
Tom is a Cat

Triples
Tom is a Cat

Triples
Tom is a http://dbpedia.org/page/Cat

Triples
http://www.facebook.com/tom
is a
http://dbpedia.org/page/Cat

Triples
http://www.facebook.com/tom
https://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type
http://dbpedia.org/page/Cat

Triples
http://www.facebook.com/tom
https://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type
http://dbpedia.org/page/Cat
Subject
Predicate
Object

Triples
http://www.facebook.com/tom
https://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type
http://dbpedia.org/page/Cat
Resource
Property
Class

Triples
facebook:tom rdf:type dbpedia:cat
Subject Predicate Object

Triples
facebook:tom rdf:type dbpedia:cat

Graph

Triples
Tom is a Cat
Tom is a Dog

Named Graph

Named Graph
Subject Predicate Object Graphname

Which data?

To decide which data was first qualified

… we had a meeting

To decide which data was first qualified
Which data is meaningful to publish as LOD?

To decide which data was first qualified
Which data is meaningful to publish as LOD?
It should be data that would be published on the new website

To decide which data was first qualified
Which data is meaningful to publish as LOD?
It should be data that would be published on the new website
Data that we could extract easily from existing systems

Services

Services
Are the core business of government

Services
Are the core business of government
We were building a local implementation of “IPDC”

Services
Are the core business of government
We were building a local implementation of “IPDC”
OSLO

Passport
Human-readable

<rdf:Description rdf:about="https://stad.gent/id/products/139">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://purl.org/vocab/cpsv#PublicService"/>
<dc:created>2014-07-03T00:00:00+02:00</dc:created>
<dc:modified>2016-01-20T12:53:47+01:00</dc:modified>
<rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/data/products/139"/>
<schema:audience rdf:resource="http://stad.gent/data/ns/gpdc/doelgroepen/burger"/>
<schema:keywords>buitenland</schema:keywords>
<schema:keywords>reizen</schema:keywords>
<dc:identifier>139</dc:identifier>
<foaf:page rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/node/9274"/>
<ns0:follows rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/id/products/139/procedure"/>
<ns0:hasInput rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/id/products/139/bedrag"/>
<ns0:hasInput rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/id/products/139/benodigdheden"/>
<dc:references rdf:resource="https://travellersonline.diplomatie.be/"/>
<dc:references rdf:resource="http://www.diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Diensten/Op_reis_in_het_buitenland/"/>
<dc:related rdf:resource="http://productencatalogus.vlaanderen.be/fiche/150"/>
<dc:spatial rdf:resource="https://stad.gent/id/products/gebieden/24"/>
<dc:subject rdf:resource="http://stad.gent/data/ns/themas/burgerzaken"/>
<dc:title>Reispas</dc:title>
<dc:coverage rdf:resource="http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/place/BEL_GNE"/>
<ns1:productType rdf:resource="http://productencatalogus.vlaanderen.be/fiche/150"/>
</rdf:Description>
Passport
Machine-readable

Services

Services News

Services News
Locations

Services News
LocationsLocations
Events

Examples
http://stad.gent/sparql

Examples
Products for ecological companies:
PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/>
PREFIX dct:<http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
SELECT ?product ?titel
WHERE {
?product a <http://purl.org/vocab/cpsv#PublicService>.
?product schema:audience <http://stad.gent/data/ns/gpdc/doelgroepen/onderneming>.
?product dct:subject <http://stad.gent/data/ns/themas/natuur-milieu>.
?product dct:title ?titel
}

Examples
Products for ecological companies:
product title
https://stad.gent/id/products/120 "Projectsubsidie klimaatscholen"
https://stad.gent/id/products/222 "Meld de aanleg van uw geveltuin"
https://stad.gent/id/products/289 "Milieuvergunning"
https://stad.gent/id/products/290 "Vergunningen voor elektronisch versterkte muziek"
https://stad.gent/id/products/304 "Subsidie tijdelijke invulling van publieke ruimte en leegstaande gebouwen"
https://stad.gent/id/products/74 "(Semi)publieke laadpaal voor elektrische wagens voor bedrijven en organisaties"

Examples
Recent news items related to museums
PREFIX schema:<http://schema.org/>
SELECT ?article ?titel ?published
WHERE {
VALUES ?org {
<https://stad.gent/id/agents/a5294c55-f789-e111-a140-0050569826fc>
<https://stad.gent/id/agents/96677ab3-f689-e111-a140-0050569826fc>
}.
?article a schema:NewsArticle.
?article schema:datePublished ?published.
?article <http://schema.org/sourceOrganization> ?org.
?article schema:headline ?titel
} ORDER BY DESC(?published) LIMIT 5

Examples
Recent news items related to museums
article title published
https://stad.gent/id/news/29075 "Museumnacht: Bezoek de Gentse musea" "2015-11-27"
https://stad.gent/id/news/29017 "De schat van je leven” "2015-11-20"
https://stad.gent/id/news/28938 "Ayşe Erkmen & Ann Veronica Janssens" "2015-11-04"
https://stad.gent/id/news/28761 "Trappen tegen armoede in het Huis van Alijn" "2015-10-15"
https://stad.gent/id/news/27045 "Kermisfoto’s gezocht in het Huis van Alijn" "2015-03-27"

Examples
Recent news per location
PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/>
PREFIX dct: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
PREFIX gent: <http://stad.gent/data/internal/>
SELECT ?news ?titel ?locationid
WHERE {
?news a schema:NewsArticle.
?news schema:headline ?titel.
?news schema:contentLocation ?location.
?news schema:description ?description.
?news schema:datePublished ?date.
?location gent:resourceType ?locationtype.
?location gent:resourceId ?locationid.
FILTER (?date > "2016-02-11T00:00:00+01:00"^^xsd:dateTime)
}

Examples
Recent news per location
news titel locationid
https://stad.gent/id/news/29909 "Japanse stille films met live vertelling door Benshi Kataoka Ichirō" "3738673"
https://stad.gent/id/news/29806 "Chroom-6: buurtbewoners hoeven zich geen zorgen te maken" "16"
https://stad.gent/id/news/29814 "Ottergemse Dries kan een nieuwe groenzone in gebruik nemen!" "20"
https://stad.gent/id/news/29685 "Halfvastenfoor 2016, van suikerspin tot Buffalo-badeendje" "70791"

Next up?

Next Steps
Increase know-how within the organisation

Next Steps
Increase know-how within the organisation
Use Linked Data internally

Next Steps
Publish “leisure data” (events, Visit Gent, Gentse Feesten, …)
Increase know-how within the organisation
Use Linked Data internally

Next Steps
Publish “leisure data” (events, Visit Gent, Gentse Feesten, …)
Start a structural dialogue with other govt’s on ontologies
Increase know-how within the organisation
Use Linked Data internally

Questions?