The Obama administration and four Dublin local authorities are the "poster children" of a worldwide movement to unlock public data, according to researchers at NUI Galway, writes Lorna Siggins.
Public data, or basic information collected by governments and other bodies, is valued at €27 billion across the EU.
However, more State bodies need to realise the potential benefits of making such basic information more accessible, a conference at NUIG heard yesterday. Since Barack Obama was elected president, all data in the US is public unless an argument can be made to restrict it.
Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin councils are involved in data network dublinked.ie which gives such data as rainfall monitoring. The “open data” does not include personal information.