Open Data: Resources and Tools

Introduction

The following links provide a brief introduction to datasets, tools and examples for working with open data. The lists of country and city open data portals are extremely incomplete, and just there to get you started.

What is open data?

Openness has a definition: The Open Definition

Other key points:

The data must be machine readable (this doesn't just mean digital)
The data must be published under an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons, Open Data Commons, Open Government Licence. See also this Publisher's Guide to Open Licenses.

Key not-for-profit organisations involved in promoting and using open data:

A quick look at Open Government Data

Overviews:

Trans-national initiatives:

Some Country-level Open Data Portals:

UK City and Local Authority Portals:

Scotland:

Miscellaneous list of other places:

Resources for learning about data

Course and tools:

Tabular Data

Dataviz:

Map APIs

SNS Linked data:

So you have a cool idea?

Before investing too much time in starting a business around open data, have a look at what others have done:

More open data

Please send corrections and updates to ewan [at] inf.ed.ac.uk

Last edited: 16 October 2014