Good news from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). They report an explosive growth of open data use over the past four years. In Januari 2019 more data was requested than in the entirety of 2017. This showcases that the demand for open data is high, and that when a public institution puts in the effort on sharing which data they have and that it is open for reuse, great things can happen.
Open Spending
Open State Foundation also uses CBS data. We use their data almost exclusively on our platform Open Spending and Open Spending Lijstjesmaker. On these platforms we showcase how Dutch municipalities, provinces and water boards spend their budgets.
License choice
There are improvements to be made in the open data policy at CBS. Open State finds it undesirable that CBS chooses to apply a CC BY (Attribution) license to their factual data. This imposes unnecessary restrictions on the re-use of data, and we would suggest the use of the more common CC0 for data.
CBS and mobility data
Next to this, Open State hopes – together with OpenGeo – that data on the use of public transportation will become available through CBS soon. This can only be accessed by asking for data at TransLink Systems (TLS) now, which is known to refuse almost all requests for data. Hopefully, based on comments made by deputy-minister Van Veldhoven, we will soon have a declaration of intention to make this data available.
Do you want to know more how Open State Foundation promotes the sharing and reuse of open data? Contact us!