Local governments as open data providers and reusers
Publication Date/Time
2023-02-07T13:00:34+00:00
Country
Europe
Discover the role of local governments as data providers and data
reusers in Europe
Traditionally, public administrations are seen as suppliers of data.
But in the recent paper ‘Measuring data demand within the public
sector
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Discussion_Paper_Measuring_Data_Demand_Within_the_Public_Sector.pdf]’,
followed by data.europa webinar
[https://data.europa.eu/en/academy/understanding-public-data-demand-public-sector]
and blogpost
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/course/Why%20open%20data%20re-use%20in%20the%20public%20sector%20matters_Webinar%20blog%20article_v1.2.pdf],
data.europa.eu has added a focus on the demand side – ON THE ROLE OF
PUBLIC SECTOR AS USERS OF OPEN DATA. This blog will continue this
exploration by looking at a specific case of local government, zooming
in the granularity of cities and regions: how do they use open data
themselves, and how do they support data use by not only private but
also public sector bodies?

Why this focus on the local data supply? Because local level data are
particularly important in the single market of data. Data-driven
innovation is mostly about greater data granularity – having more
precise and specific data about a specific problem. Highly granular
local data can pave the way to innovation in the public and private
sector alike, such as more precise meteorological data that can be
used to accurately plan resource usage in agriculture, or traffic
prediction data that helps both planning of traffic infrastructure and
of individual travels. Granular smart meter data helps better managing
energy distribution and facilitates behavioural change.

One clear example about the importance of the local data is the recent
implementing regulation on high-value datasets
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/], out of the six
main categories included, four (geospatial, earth observation,
meteorological, mobility) refer to very granular local datasets below
the regional (NUTS 2) level. In other words, local data are of high
value for the public and the private sector alike, whether they are
held by national or local authorities.

Local governments play a strategic role in the open data ecosystem,
both as a data provider and as a data user. The next section will
illustrate why this is the case through the use of reuse cases and
further examples.

_THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AS DATA PROVIDERS_

Local public administrations play a crucial role as data providers
because they collect, generate and manage a vast amount of data from
the specific region in which they are located. They hold and
increasingly publish datasets that are reused by national governments,
while leveraging data to address regional challenges such as public
safety, infrastructure and environmental sustainability.   

Local government is traditionally viewed as being more user-oriented
and closer to its constituents, and this is also reflected in the open
data realm. Recent thinking on open data has emphasized the importance
of publishing open data in a purposeful, user-centric manner, which is
crucial to ensure reuse and ultimately impact. For instance, the 2018
strategy of the Open Data Charter
[https://opendatacharter.net/publishing-with-purpose-odc-2018-strategy/],
a collaborative effort of 170 governments worldwide to define common
principles on open data publication, is aptly titled “Publishing
with Purpose”. In fact, many cities have embraced such approach. For
instance, 11 of the 13 cities mapped by the UserCentriCities dashboard
[https://www.usercentricities.eu/ucdashboard], a consortium of leading
European cities supported by the Horizon programme, provide APIs to
other administrations and to private companies to facilitate the reuse
of their data. The National Single Access Points envisaged by the
recent Data Governance Act
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R0868]
will play a crucial role precisely in facilitating access and data
reuse, and local authorities will play an important role in ensuring
the effectiveness of such instruments by providing timely information
about the data available for reuse.

Frontrunning local governments employ an array of methods to gauge the
demand of data reusers, including those coming from the public sector
itself. Local government representatives attending the data.europa.eu
webinar on understanding public data demand in the public sector
mentioned analysing portal statistics as the most popular method,
followed by user research and organising events. 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Image%201_0.png]
_Figure 1 – Slide from the data.europa.eu webinar ‘Data Demand and
Reuse in the Public Sector’_

Understanding our reusers is essential in the whole process. By
learning about the reusers from the public sector, their interests and
needs, local governments can adopt a more demand-driven open data
practice and shape their strategies to better serve citizens. It also
sheds light on the needs of the local community to national
governments for better decision making. Among the many examples
discussed in the recently published 2023 data.europa.eu report
Rethinking Open Data Impact
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Rethinking%20impact%20of%20open%20data.pdf],
it is worth mentioning:

 	* The HELSINKI REGION [https://hri.fi/en_gb/] open data portal,
where four cities have joined forces on one single portal. They
publish 175 APIs to facilitate data re-use, and one can find 301
re-use cases with filters for type and platform, and tags for themes.
There is also a statistics section featuring extensive use of
quantitative metrics on published data sets and use cases. As made
clear during the 2021 EU Open Data Days presentation
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT2oG9nXXvY&list=PLT5rARDev_rm6SCFP-AuJYHqjzIafAhn-&index=13]
by Minna Joensuu, Deputy Research Director for the city of Espoo
(Finland)
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/23-november-2021/#best-practices-from-10-years-of-open-data-in-the-helsinki-region]
on 10 years of best practices, more can be accomplished by working
together, not only between data providers at the local level but also
between providers and reusers. She also underlined that it is
important to recognise that building a community does not happen
overnight and that interoperable data make data reuse a lot easier.
 	* The BERLIN [https://daten.berlin.de/] open data portal highlights
the most frequently used datasets in a separated section of its portal
to facilitate access, and lists 67 reuse cases with description, used
dataset, thematic tags and link to the app/website. The German capital
also carried out a public survey considering the perceived importance
of open data and ease of use and organised stakeholder workshops to
inform the open data strategy.
 	* The ZARAGOZA [https://www.zaragoza.es/sede/portal/datos-abiertos/]
open data portal features a reuse support section on the homepage of
their open data portal. The portal’s statistics dashboard tracks
formats and http methods of data access, and the number of daily data
consultations. The capital of Aragon also presents 55 inspiring re-use
cases of open data, featuring a short description and tags according
to platform, device and thematic keywords.

_THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AS DATA REUSERS_

Last but not least, local governments should be also seen as consumers
and reusers of data. Data has become a crucial asset in policymaking,
important to deliver effective and timely outputs. Still
under-documented, cities and regional authorities are increasingly
using diverse data sources to better deal with today’s challenges.
Although there may not be many known examples of open data reuse -
only 6 out of 26 webinar participants from the local level indicated
having acted as an open data re-user –its public value is
undeniable, as several examples show:  

 	* The data.europa.eu [http://data.europa.eu/] Use Case Observatory
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/The_Use_Case_Observatory_Volume_I_0.pdf] also
lists examples of data reuse within the public sector. The
municipality of Aarhus together with the Danish Agency for Data
Supply and Infrastructure have developed an object-based version
of a 3D city model for Aarhus
[https://dataforsyningen.dk/labs/2265] that can be used as a tool
of analysis, visualisation and communication regarding climate
adaptation, green conversion, urban planning, land management and much
more. The model is mostly based on open data, namely geo data from
Geo Denmark. These data are complemented by data on energy consumption
of buildings from Denmark Footprints building height data from
Pointcloud.

 [https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Image%202_0.png]
_Figure 2 - Screenshot taken from the 3D city model with information
about the selected building (in red)_

 	* The Open Data Maturity report
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/data.europa.eu_landscaping_insight_report_n8_2022_0.pdf] highlights
examples of data reuse in public sector in Spain and Belgium. In
Spain, the Valencia City Council has developed a data inventory tool
[https://www.valencia.es/es/-/inventario-datos] to measure public
policy efficiency and improve access to public information. In
Belgium, five Flemish provinces have joined forces to provide open
data to the dashboard ´Provinces in figures
[https://provincies.incijfers.be/dashboard]` with the aim to allow
citizens and local politicians to compare statistics on different
socio-economic parameters (e.g., demographics, housing, poverty,
vacant real estate, energy use) across municipalities so they can
launch plans to improve the local economy and society.

 [https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Image%203.png]
_Figure 3- Screenshot taken from the dashboard of ‘Provinces in
figures’_

 	* The Dutch Province of North-Holland engaged a start-up to develop
the web-based application Zonnedakje
[https://data.overheid.nl/actueel/impact-story/impact-story-zonnedakje]
to show which roofs in the region have solar panels and which don’t.
Data come from a variety of sources, among which aerial photographs,
the Dutch base registry of addresses and buildings (BAG) and the Dutch
Hight Map (AHN). The province uses the app to track the increase in
solar panels.

_CONCLUSIONS_

The local level is where open data demand meets supply. It is where
ecosystems grow. And finally, the local granularity is particularly
important because this is where open data have the greatest impact,
where innovation happens. It is not an accident that new theories of
place-based innovation policy
[https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC121271]
put forward by professor Soete focus on the importance of cities as
innovation hubs. Due to their dense populations, city-level
decision-making processes, and local stakeholder participation, local
authorities provide for excellent testbeds for innovation. Open data
are a fundamental ingredient of local innovation policy and cities
need to take a more prominent role in both the open data and
innovation policy discussion.

But the reality is that we still know too little about how open data
portal can serve best the needs of public administrations.

_How important is the use of open data portals by other public sector
organisations?_

_How should open data services be designed to better help the needs of
other public administrations? What good practices are there?_

_How can data.europa.eu support governments as open data providers and
reusers? _

We are currently running a survey to find an answer to these
questions. The insights will be used for a final report, to be
published in June 2023.

For updates on how to measure the impact of (local) open data, follow
us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/EU_opendata], Facebook
[https://www.facebook.com/data.europa.eu] and LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/publications-office-of-the-european-union/],
or subscribe to our newsletter
[https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter].
