UK government makes data free for application developers
The UK government has launched a new website which gives
unprecedented and free access to government data in one place.
The site contains more than 2,500 data sets from across
government. All of the data are stripped of any personal
information and presented in a format that can be reused by any
individual or business to applications in areas including house
prices, local amenities, services, and access to local
hospitals.
Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain, Tim Berners-Lee,
the inventor of the World Wide Web and Nigel Shadbolt of
Southampton University worked together to launch the website.
In the run-up to the public launch, 2,400 registered developers
were given access to a preview version of the site, enabling them
offer feedback and start experimenting with the data.
data.gov.uk will be using a new, open licence, which allows
government-owned data to be freely reused by anybody. Timms said
freeing up public data will create major new opportunities for
businesses. “By allowing industry to use data creatively [it] can
develop new services and generate economic value from it.“
Berners-Lee believes making public data available for people to
find new ways of using it increases accountability and
transparency. “Government data should be a public resource. By
releasing it, we can unlock new ideas for delivering public
services, help communities and society work better, and let
talented entrepreneurs and engineers create new businesses and
services.”
Shadbolt said more data and functions will be added soon. “We
are already working with departments, agencies and local
authorities to release even more data all the time, and we want the
release of public data to be business as usual across public
bodies.”
The website is available at http://data.gov.uk/