1. Open Data Portal and Statistics Canada
Presented by:
Dissemination Division and Administrative and Dissemination Systems Division
June 2014

2. Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Our agenda for today…
Open Data Background
Statistics Canada as Data Contributor
Statistics Canada as Service Provider
Live Demo
Questions
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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3. Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
What is Open Data?
Data which are:
Free of cost
Free of barriers to redistribution (open licence)
Machine readable in reusable formats (downloadable)
Well indexed and ‘findable’
A concept, a movement
International and municipal initiatives
Roots in the ‘data liberation’ initiative
Newer aspects include application development, mash-ups, linked data and the semantic web
A good fit with our goal to increase access to aggregate data
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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4. Open Data – Five Stars System from Sir Tim Berners-Lee
☼ - anything on the web, regardless of format, with an open licence
☼ ☼ - machine readable formats, Excel qualifies, for example
☼ ☼ ☼ - non-proprietary machine readable formats,CSV, XML, for example.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ - properly formatted to be “linked-up” for the semantic web – e.g. RDF or SPARQL
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ - actually “linked-up” – analysis across datasets - interoperability 4
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5. Opening access to data - meeting our mandate.
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6. Statistics Canada as a data contributor
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7. Statistics Canada’s Open Data – an evolution
In 1996 – Publications became free, free Summary Tables, Census - tiered access
Since February 2012
All data on the web is free of cost
Adoption of STC Open Data License
Elimination of licensing and royalty fees, even for custom data
Since December 2012, all downloadable data sources found on Statistics Canada’s website are now “discoverable” via data.gc.ca
5400 records representing approx. 72% of general non-geospatial datasets
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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8. Statistics Canada’s contribution to data.gc.ca
Available files include
Census of Population, National Household Survey Data, Census of Agriculture, CANSIM data, Trade Imports and Exports, summary tables, industry and occupation classifications and geographic reference files
Other classification files and geographic reference files will also be added within the next year
You will see on this slide that the data sources include the Census of Population, the National Household Survey, the Census of Agriculture, output from our CANSIM database, our summary tables, industry and occupation classification files, and most of our geographic reference files.
Monthly trade data will become available on the Open Data Portal in the next couple of months, and more classification files and geographic files will be loaded over the course of the next year.
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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9. Examples of how the data are being used
In 2013/2014, there were 5,977 downloads on the Open Data Portal of registered datasets from the CANSIM database
During the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE) event, Statistics Canada datasets were accessed 1,480 times, more than any other government department
Of the 15 finalists in the recent CODE event, 7 used data from Statistics Canada
We have evidence that data users are accessing our datasets via the Open Data Portal. From the CANSIM database alone, we know that about 6,000 data download requests were generated from data.gc.ca.
I know you have heard about the recent Canadian Open Data Experience hackathon in which students, entrepreneurs and developers focused on building applications with data found on the Open Data Portal.
During the event, our datasets were accessed approximately 1,500 times, more than any other federal department.
Of the 15 finalists in this event, 7 used data from Statistics Canada.
These are just some examples that demonstrate that our datasets are indeed reaching a new audience through data.gc.ca.
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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10. Open Data Pilot Project
Key Pilot Results
Federal Open Data Portal (data.gc.ca) pilot project was launched in March 2011.
Accomplishments:
24 months of uninterrupted service
22 participating departments
273,000 datasets uploaded
Over 1.2 million user sessions generated
Approx. 150,000 downloads
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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11. Open Data Pilot Project
Lessons Learned
Users/developers need a more interactive experience to engage on open data.
Improved search capabilities are required to give users more flexibility in searching.
Licensing needs to be simple, unrestrictive, and allow for maximum opportunity to reuse data.
Departments require streamlined, bulk publishing capacity.
GC metadata standards need to be aligned with emerging international open data standards.
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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12. “Who knows how to handle data?”
Statistics Canada has world-wide credibility and proven expertise in dealing with data.
“Data is our business”
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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13. Statistics Canada as a service provider
On behalf of Treasury Board, Statistics Canada has developed and is hosting the next generation Open Data Portal (data.gc.ca) using the Open Government Platform (OGPL).
The new data.gc.ca was launched June 18, 2013
International collaboration with OGPL partner countries. (U.S., India)
Enhance usability and accessibility (Web Experience Toolkit)
Accessibility (WCAG 2.0)
Mobile-friendly
Multilingual
Improve search
Engagement using modern Web 2.0 social tools
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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14. Open Government Platform (OGPL)
Open-source platform enables governments worldwide to achieve data transparency at little cost
OGPL is open source co-developed by India’s National Informatics Centre ,US Data.gov and Canada’s Data.gc.ca Team
Public comments and tracker on Github
Public mailing list for discussion
Join the community!
Opengovplatform
@OGPL
CKAN
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15. “How does all this plumbing work?”
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16. Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
Open Data – at a glance
Action Plan on Open Government:
Open Information
Open Data
Open Dialogue
Share
Register
Find
Open Data offers government data in a more useful format to enable citizens, the private sector and non-government organizations to leverage it in innovative and value-added ways.
Open Information seeks to proactively release information, including on government activities, to Canadians on an ongoing basis. By proactively making government information available it will be easier to find and more accessible for Canadians.
Open Dialogue gives Canadians a stronger say in government policies and priorities, and increases engagement through Web 2.0 technologies.
Citizens /
Data Consumer
GC Employees / Data Providers
CKAN
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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17. Open Data and New Dissemination Model
As part of the New Dissemination Model(NDM):
Organize NDM data holdings to seamlessly feed data.gc.ca
Align NDM metadata framework with the Open Data Metadata framework
Improve NDM tagging strategies to enhance StatCan data’s “findability” on data.gc.ca
Increase use of Web Data Services
Statistics Canada • Statistique Canada
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18. “Let’s see it in action…”
(Internet - GC only)
(Internet - LAN B only)
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Questions or comments?
Andrew Smith Open Data Project Business Manager Dissemination Division
Andrew Sinkinson
Open Data Portal IT Chief
Administrative and Dissemination Systems Division
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