Open data: governmental transparency

Open data are datasets generated by the public sector, from budgets and contracts to transport and health data, published in reusable formats and without restrictions on use. The movement gained momentum during Obama's first term in the United States and consolidated in the European Union with directives requiring institutions to publish certain information in open formats. Today more than 160 countries have some type of open data portal.

The impact goes beyond transparency. Public transport data published by cities like New York or San Francisco enabled the development of navigation and route optimisation apps used by millions of people. Historical climate data published by weather agencies feeds agricultural and insurance prediction models in developing countries. Public contract data published in analysable formats enabled identification of corruption patterns that human audits would have taken years to detect.

The quality and consistency of published data remains the main problem. Many open data portals publish files in hard-to-process formats, with insufficient metadata or irregular updates. The gap between the political declaration of openness and the real usefulness of what is published is large in many countries. Civil society organisations specialised in data, such as the Open Knowledge Foundation, work on standards that make that openness effective and not merely formal.