During my search for speakers about public data as co-organizer of the DataOps Ghent (DOG in short) meetup, I noticed myself how hard it is to find a clear definition of and current projects with public data. So here is my thoughts about open data and some great projects you should have a look at.
What's public data?
To me, public data is open data that is openly available, however to be able to consult and use it you need to agree upon conditions of the data supplier. Like the data of NMBS or Google.
Often, public data is also seen as data about the public or society, although this data is often more open data made openly available by the government.
Public Data Projects
Here are some of the great public data projects I found during my quest for speakers. Enjoy
- iRail: to schedule your train trips with real time info, made with public data of NMBS.
- Disqover of Ontoforce: a search engine to find all the public linked data you need to get better data insights.
- Naardejobsindehaven: how you can get to your new job at the Port of Antwerp with public transport, made with public data of De Lijn, etc.
- Waze: real time traffic info thanks to public data of Google Maps and the Waze community.
- OpenStreetMap: using geographic data from government and contributors, making it publicly available for other projects.
- Google Public Data Explorer: search within Google for public data.
- Realo: a real estate platform using public geographic and Google maps data.
Probably, there are plenty of other great projects out there. If you know some more, let me know.
Got triggered?
Discover more about public data at the DataOps Ghent Meetup on Thursday 24th October 2019 7 PM in Ghent. It's a free community event.
.jpg)
