Open Data Barometer, assessment of global open data 

Open data has become an essential resource to build effective and responsible institutions, providing at the same time access to information: two of the seventeen global commitments (SDGs) agreed by UN in 2016. Last 21 April, Web Foundation announced the results of the 3rd Open Data Barometer, an initiative that provides a global snapshot of the state of open government data worldwide and monitors the international achievements in SDGs goals.

In order to collect the necessary information, the barometer is based on three parameters: readiness for open data initiatives, implementation of open data programmes and impact that open data is having on business, politics and civil society. In this occasion, the working methodology seeks to repeat the analysis from previous editions, with new questionnaires for government self assessment and additional questions to improve the research. More than 150 researchers and government representatives have participated in this project, which has taken over six months and more than 9,000 hours of research work, addressing more than 14,000 questions and 5,000 comments and suggestions.

Data collected by Open Data Barometer show that only 2% of countries in the study publish detailed public spending data; hardly 13% of countries release open environmental data or only 5% have open land registries. Together with this global ranking, there is a general report that includes a set of key findings about open data in the word, among which the following stand out:

1. Open data is entering the mainstream

55% of the surveyed countries have an open data initiative and a national catalogue which provides access to datasets for re-use them. Moreover, 10 new countries made open data commitments last year - Ecuador, Jamaica, St Lucia, Nepal, Thailand, Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda- highly demanded by civil society and tech community who are using government data in 93% of countries surveyed.

2.  Little  progress on the number of truly open datasets around the world

Even with the rapid spread of open government data policies,  too much critical data remains hidden. For instance, of all 1,380 government datasets surveyed, almost 90% are still closed;  roughly the same as in the last edition of the Barometer. This means that only 10% of dataset meet open data definition;  hindering its access and re-use.

3. Implementation and resourcing are the weakest links

Progress on the Implementation and Impact indicators has stalled or even gone into reverse in some cases. Open data is not yet entrenched in law or policy in some countries, without a strong legal frameworks supporting the re-use of public sector information. This is a symptom of the tendency of governments to view open data as a fad or experiment with a weak short-term strategy, resulting  in haphazard implementation, weak demand, and limited impact.

4. Big difference among data providers

Twenty-six of the top 30 countries in the ranking are high-income countries. As UN pointed out last year, such gaps among regions could create “a whole new inequality frontier”. Moreover, sometimes open data initiatives in developing countries lack of economic support, resulting in limited results and success.

5. Traditional leaders are being challenged by a new generation of open data adopters

Traditional open data stalwarts such as the USA and UK have seen their rate of progress on open data slow in comparison with other governments such as France, Canada, Mexico or South Korea, which are improving their positions in the ranking thanks to a leadership attitude in their respective regions. In fact, the International Open Data Charter is expected to be an important vehicle to sustain and increase open data in new nations, while also stimulating renewed energy in traditional open data leaders.

Despite of the effort made by governments to boost open data, according to the report there is a long way to make those open data policies turn into real benefits for the citizenship. At the end of the report, a set of general recommendations is included to help countries increase the readiness, implementation and ultimately impact of open data for development worldwide; a challenge for international community which, thanks to initiatives such as Open Data Barometer, is able to assess sector evolution year after year.