Daily Archives: Wednesday, May 7, 2014

After launching its open data site opendata.bruxelles.be in February 2012, the Belgian capital has acquired an open data platform, according to Le Monde Informatique.

As a pioneer of open data in Belgium, the city of Brussels launched its open data site in February 2012, making public datasets available in CSV et HTM formats. Wanting to comply better with the 2012-2018 legislative period which foresees the “systematic posting online of the city’s public data in a digital format in the spirit of open data“, the Belgian capital sought a means of boosting the supply of the council’s data and more especially it use. The data’s storage and downloading in various formats needed to be facilitated. The city of Brussels turned towards an open data platform created by the French start-up OpenDataSoft.

An open data platform managed by IT consultants GIAL

The platform was quickly deployed and is currently managed by Belgian IT consultants GIAL. The tool enables a better visualisation of data via systems of table, maps or graphics. Furthermore, these can also be embedded in other sites, particularly blogs. The data is now arranged into 70 different sets which can easily be found using the site’s internal search facility which offers different types of search – keywords, theme, data producer, etc. The majority of the datasets are produced by the local authority itself, but others produced by federal or regional public sector organisations are also available. On account of this new platform, the city of Brussels is strengthening its role as an open data pioneer in Belgium alongside the local authorities of Ghent, Antwerp and Kortrijk.

The City of Paris has added an open data clause to its public contracts Le Monde Informatique reports.

The City of Paris is continuing its open data process which was launched in 2011 and made a reality by the launch of the opendata.paris.fr website. It has recently launched a series of meetings between its departments and the re-users of data, to whom it is now offering data challenges.

Since 17th April, the city council’s public contracts have included a clause asking suppliers responding to invitations to tender to “release the data” produced within the scope of fulfilling the contract. This is one of the council’s latest open data initiatives, a field in which it has been active for more than 3 years. Via Open Data France, the City of Paris wants to share these items with other local authorities who would like to include this type of clause in their invitations to tender.

Paris has also just started a series of meetings it is planning to organise regularly between council departments and open data users. Under the name “Open Data Paris meetups”, these meetings are open to developers, sponsors, students and more broadly all who are interested in the city’s open data project. The first of these meetings was held at the Hôtel de Ville on 28th April. This meeting featured the launch of the city’s data challenges.

95 datasets on opendataparis.fr

Paris set up its open data website in January 2011. It is now on version 2 and currently offers 95 datasets and an API enabling visitors to use them. Amongst the most recently added or amended data are the results of the 2014 local elections, the list of works contracts awarded by the Département de Paris and by the city from 2009 to 2013, as well as, for example, the geographical data for the city’s parks and gardens or a list of outlets in Paris selling coffees for €1.00.