Data stories

On the 4th and 5th November 2017, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of Germany's 16 federal states, held the 3rd annual hackathon in a row. The annual #NRWHack is a successful and one of a kind platform bringing together the Open Data community and representatives of the public administration in NRW, and aims at facilitating communication and cooperation as well as awareness for Open Data. What...

The latest EDP report on Open Data maturity reveals that governments across Europe have not only prioritised Open Data more strongly in 2017, but are actually engaging in a race to the top. Having measured the level of Open Data maturity across Europe for 3 consecutive years, it has become clear that EU countries have made considerable efforts to improve their publishing of Open Data. European...

With the World Climate Conference taking place in Bonn these day, the question of renewables comes once again to the fore. Renewable energy is a game changer, as it alters the dependency on fossil fuels and brings in more sustainability and innovation. The European Union Renewable Energy Directive sets forth a binding target of 20% final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. EU...

Looking for some fresh air? This might be a challenge, depending on your city of residence. Multiple government organisations publish Open Data on the air quality and they do so for a very good reason. The amount of for instance inhalable coarse particles can cause health problems. That is why providing information on air (quality) - understood as common good - is important, as only so...

The EU Member States are making visible progress with regard to their Open Data transformation journey, with many Open Data initiatives as well as portals being launched each year. However in order to ensure such data infrastructures remain relevant over time, a series of aspects should be considered and embedded in the design stages of any Open Data portal. Portals play an essential role in the...

Immigration debates are often politically heated and take place in many different European countries. By using one of the following European Data Portal datasets, you will be better informed during your next conversation on the matter. Let's take a look at for instance Eurostat data published by the British Home Office. The 2010 to 2015 data allow you to find a more sophisticated perspective on...

Are you a nature lover? Then you should explore the benefits Open Data can bring you. Did you for instance know that the European Data Portal can help you to find - or to avoid - brown bears ('Orso Marsicano') in the region of Lazio, Italy? This dataset presents the events of bear encounters between the '90s and 2015, and shows these encounters on a 2 by 2 kilometer grid. Documenting these...

Over the years, bicycle touring has been becoming an increasingly popular alternative for tourists who are visiting different cities in Europe. More and more European cities offer bike rental services allowing tourists to discover the city in an environmental-friendly and healthy way. Open Data can provide a further stimulus to the use of bicycles in general and more specifically to bicycle...

Not all Open Data has the same potential for re-use. A total of thirteen data categories can be found on the European Data Portal, but certain data categories are more likely to be re-used than others. On a European level, the European Commission has identified five thematic data domains that are expected to represent those with the highest demand from re-users across the EU: geospatial data...

Through its series of eLearning modules as well as interactive Open Data materials, the European Data Portal has put together a comprehensive companion for all Open Data 'aficionados', that covers the main aspects of Open Data - from its definition and benefits, to choosing the right data format and licence, cleaning up data and sustainability of Open Data. Our experts have selected 16 short...