This document discusses open data and its benefits. It defines open data as data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone for any purpose. The document notes that economic analyses have found open data can increase EU business activity by up to €40 billion per year and provide a 500% return on investment. Examples are given of how open data has improved public services and government accountability. Some challenges to open data are also outlined, such as data quality issues, technical difficulties in sharing data across organizations, and privacy concerns.

1. Open Data
Andrew Stott
UK Transparency Board
formerly Director, data.gov.uk
Edinburgh
19 July 2013 0.1
@dirdigeng
andrew.stott@dirdigeng.com

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5. What is Open Data?
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Open data is
data
that can be
freely
used,
reused
and redistributed
by anyone
for any purpose.

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estate
agents/
realtors
Financial
services
builders and
other local
services

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15. Economic Value of Open Data
 Open Gov Data in EU would increase
business activity by up to €40 bn/year
 EU Direct & indirect benefits up to €140
bn/year (0.7% of GDP)
 Spanish study found ~€600m of business from
open data with >5000 jobs
 Australian study: ~500% ROI from open data
 Deloitte found open data was reused 10x-100x
more than charged-for data
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All economic analysis and case studies
point the same way

16. Open Data as a Transport Investment
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TFL Open Data
ROI = 58:1
HS2
ROI = 1.4:1
(if we’re lucky)

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18. EU “Open Government Data” Directive
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21. National Information Infrastructure
 Global Positioning System data now has
$122bn/yr benefits to US economy alone
 UK National Mapping Agency data supports
£100bn/yr of GDP activity
 Open Weather Data in US has created 400
companies employing 4000 people
 Open addressing data in Denmark now gives
€14m/yr benefits and 70:1 ROI
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22. Government can be an Open Data user too
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24. Performance of individual schools
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25. Performance of individual hospitals
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12+ Weeks
MRSA-free
Good C-Diff
recordLow
Mortality
2 recent
MRSA
Blood
clots
Patient
ratings

26. 1000 less heart surgery deaths each year
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27. Performance of local police and courts
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30. Citizen-sourced data
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#uksnow TN13 4/10

31. Open Data improving public services
 Publishing the UK’s 240 cardiac surgeons’ individual
clinical outcomes reduced deaths by 1000 a year
 1000s of apps delivering public transport information
in the United States – 68 in New York alone
 UK released data on location of 300,000 bus-stops;
OpenStreetMap corrected 18,000 of them, improving
official data accuracy.
 Sharing Open Data within public agencies in
Manchester (city of 2.6m people) saves US$14m/yr
 Open Data on public agency purchasing has allowed
a “whole of government” view to get best prices and
performance from key suppliers
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33. Transparent and Accountable Government
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34. Is My Money Being Spent Well?
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36. Organisational Transparency
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Where the person
is in the structure
Pay
Responsibil
Contact details

37. International Corporate Transparency
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38. Open Data for Accountability
 Open Data exposed CAN$3.2bn misuse of charitable
status in tax code in Canada
 Publishing UK Senior Civil Servants’ expenses
reduced claims by ~40-50%
 Open Data exposed racial discrimination in water
supply in Zanesville, United States – victims won
$10.9m compensation
 UK civil service pay data exposed people paid twice
as much as the Head of the Civil Service and three
times as much as the Prime Minister
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39. Some Challenges
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40. Everyone thinks that they are an exception
 It’s held separately by n different organisations, and we can’t join it up
 It will make people angry and scared without helping them
 It is technically impossible
 We do not own the data
 The data is just too large to be published and used
 Our website cannot hold files this large
 We know the data is wrong
 We know the data is wrong, and people will tell us where it is wrong
 We know the data is wrong, and we will waste valuable resources
inputting the corrections people send us
 People will draw superficial conclusions from the data without
understanding the wider picture
 People will construct league tables from it
 It will generate more Freedom of Information requests
 It will cost too much to put it into a standard format
 It will distort the market
 Our IT suppliers will charge us a fortune to do an ad hoc extract
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41. Release data people want
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42. Ensuring reusability as well as accessibility
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43. When Open is not Open
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“You shall not use the data made
available through the GC Open Data
Portal in any way which, in the opinion
of Canada, may bring disrepute to or
prejudice the reputation of Canada.”

44. Common standard for common things
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45. Patchy across borders
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46. Citadel Project
 Sense location
 Locate data repository
 Search for required data
 Obtain metadata
 Build strategy and tool
chain to use the data
 Access data, convert,
and display it
 Now over to the user

47. Privacy
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48. End
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