iniciativas de datos abiertos

Spring, in addition to the arrival of good weather, has brought a great deal of news related to the open data ecosystem and data sharing. Over the last three months, European-driven developments have continued, with two initiatives that are currently in the public consultation phase standing out:

• Progress on data spaces. The first regulatory initiative for a data space has been launched. This first proposal focuses on health sector data and seeks to establish a uniform legal framework, facilitate patients' electronic access to their own data and encourage its re-use for other secondary purposes. It is currently under public consultation until 28 July.
• Boosting high-value data. The concept of high-value data, set out in Directive 2019/1024, refers to data whose re-use brings considerable benefits to society, the environment and the economy. Although this directive included a proposal for initial thematic categories to be considered, an initiative is currently underway to create a more concrete list. This list has already been made public and any citizen can add comment until 24 June. In the addition, the European Commission has also launched a series of grants to support public administrations at local, regional and national level to boost the availability, quality and usability of high-value data.

These two initiatives are helping to boost an ecosystem that is growing steadily in Spain, as shown in these examples of news we have collected over the last few months.

Examples of open data re-use

This season we have also learned about different projects that highlight the advantages of using data:

• Thanks to the use of Linked Open Data, a professor from the University of Valladolid has created the web application LOD4Culture. This app allows to explore the world's cultural heritage from the semantic databases of dbpedia and wikidata.
• The University of Zaragoza has launched sensoriZAR to monitor air quality and reduce energy consumption in its spaces. Built on IoT, open data and open science, the solution is focused on data-driven decision-making.
• Villalba Hospital has created a map of cardiovascular risk in the Sierra de Madrid thanks to Big Data. The map collects clinical and demographic data of patients to inform about the likelihood of developing such a disease in the future.
• The Open Government Lab of Aragon has recently presented "RADAR", an application that provides geo-referenced information on initiatives in rural areas.

Agreements to boost open data

The commitment of public bodies to open data is evident in a number of agreements and plans that have been launched in recent months:

• On 13 April, the mayors of Madrid and Malaga signed two collaboration agreements to jointly boost digital transformation and tourism growth in both cities. Thanks to these agreements, it will be possible to adopt policies on security and data protection, open data and Big Data, among others.
• The Government of the Balearic Islands and Asedie will collaborate to implement open data measures, transparency and reuse of public data. This is set out in an agreement that seeks to promote public-private collaboration and the development of commercial solutions, among others.
• The Generalitat Valenciana has signed an agreement with the Universitat Politècnica de València through which it will allocate €70,000 to carry out activities focused on the openness and reuse of data during the 2022 financial year.
• Madrid City Council has also initiated the process for the elaboration of the III Open Government Action Plan for the city, for which it launched a public consultation.

In addition, open data platforms continue to be enriched with new datasets and tools aimed at facilitating access to and use of information. Some examples are:

• Aragón Open Data has presented its virtual assistant to bring the portal's data closer to users in a simple and user-friendly way. The solution has been developed by Itainnova together with the Government of Aragon.
• Cartociudad, which belongs to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, has a new viewer to locate postal addresses. It has been developed from a search engine based on REST services and has been created with API-CNIG.
• Madrid City Council has also launched a new open data viewer. Interactive dashboards with data on energy, weather, parking, libraries, etc. can be consulted.
• The Department of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands has launched a new search engine for energy certificates by cadastral reference, with information from the Canary Islands Open Data portal.
• The Segovia City Council has renewed its website to host all the pages of the municipal areas, including the Open Data Portal, under the umbrella of the Smart Digital Segovia project.
• The University of Navarra has published a new dataset through GBIF, showing 10 years of observations on the natural succession of vascular plants in abandoned crops.
• The Castellón Provincial Council has published on its open data portal a dataset listing the 52 municipalities in which the installation of ATMs to combat depopulation has been promoted.

Boom in events, trainings and reports

Spring is one of the most prolific times for events and presentations. Some of the activities that have taken place during these months are:

• Asedie presented the 10th edition of its Report on the state of the infomediary sector, this time focusing on the data economy. The report highlights that this sector has a turnover of more than 2,000 million euros per year and employs almost 23,000 professionals. On the Asedie website you can access the video of the presentation of the report, with the participation of the Data Office.
• During this season, the results of the Gobal Data Barometer were also presented. This report reflects examples of the use and impact of open data, but also highlights the many barriers that prevent access and effective use of open data, limiting innovation and problem solving.
• The Social Security Data Conference was held on 26 May. It was recorded on video and can be viewed at this link. They showed the main strategic lines of the Social Security IT Management (GISS) in this area.
• The recording of the conference "Public Strategies for the Development of Data Spaces", organised by AIR4S (Digital Innovation Hub in AI and Robotics for the Sustainable Development Goals) and the Madrid City Council, is also available. During the event, public policies and initiatives based on the use and exploitation of data were presented.
• Another video available is the presentation of Oscar Corcho, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), co-director of the Ontological Engineering Group (OEG) and co-founder of LocaliData, talking about the collaborative project Ciudades Abiertas in the webinar "Improving knowledge transfer across organisations by knowledge graphs". You can watch it at this link from minute 15:55 onwards.
• In terms of training, the FEMP's Network of Local Entities for Transparency and Participation approved its Training Plan for this year. It includes topics related to the evaluation of public policies, open data, transparency, public innovation and cybersecurity, among others.
• Alcobendas City Council has launched a podcast section on its website, with the aim of disseminating among citizens issues such as the use of open data in public administrations.

Other news of interest in Europe

We end our review with some of the latest developments in the European data ecosystem:

• The 24 shortlisted teams for the EUDatathon 2022 have been made public. Among them is the Spanish Astur Data Team.
• The European Consortium for Digital and Interconnected Scientific Infrastructures LifeWatch ERIC, based in Seville, has taken on the responsibility of providing technological support to the global open data network on biodiversity.
• The European Commission has recently launched Kohesio. It is a new public online platform that provides data on European cohesion projects. Through the data, it shows the contribution of the policy to the economic, territorial and social cohesion of EU regions, as well as to the ecological and digital transitions.
• The European Open Data Portal has published a new study on how to make its data more reusable. This is the first in a series of reports focusing on the sustainability of open data portal infrastructures.

This is just a selection of news among all the developments in the open data ecosystem over the last three months. If you would like to make a contribution, you can leave us a message in the comments or write to dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

When launching an open data initiative, it is necessary that everyone involved in its development is aware of the benefits of open data, and that they are clear about the processes and workflows needed to achieve the goals. This is the only way to achieve an initiative with up-to-date data that meets the necessary quality parameters.

This idea was clear to the Alba Smart Initiative, which is why they have created various materials that not only serve to provide knowledge to all those involved, but also to motivate and raise awareness among heads of service and councillors about the need (and obligation) to publish as much information as possible for the use of citizens.

What is Alba Smart?

The Alba Smart project is jointly developed by the city councils of Almendralejo and Badajoz with the aim of advancing in their development as smart cities. Among the areas covered are the control of tourist mobility flows, the creation of an innovation hub, the installation of wifi access points in public buildings, the implementation of social wifi and the management of car parks and fleets.

Within the framework of this project, a platform has been developed to unify the information of devices and systems, thus facilitating the management of public services in a more efficient way. Alba Smart also incorporates a balanced scorecard, as well as an open data portal for each city council (Almendralejo's and Badajoz's are available here).

The Alba Smart initiative has the collaboration of Red.es through the National Plan for Smart Cities.

Activities to promote open data

Within the context of Alba Smart, there is an Open Data working group of the Badajoz City Council, which has launched several activities focused on the dissemination of open data in the framework of a local entity.

One of the first actions they have carried out is the creation of an internal WIKI in which they have been documenting all the materials that have been useful to them. This WIKI facilitates the sharing of internal content, so that all users have at their disposal materials of interest to answer questions such as: what is open data, what roles, tasks and processes are involved, why is it necessary to adopt this type of policies, etc.

In addition, on the public part of the Badajoz website, both Transparency and Open Data have shared a series of documents included in this WIKI that may also be of interest to other local initiatives:

Contents related to Transparency

The website includes a summary section with content on TRANSPARENCY. Among other issues, it includes a list of ITA2017 indicators and their assignment to each City Council Service.

This section also includes the regulatory framework that applies to the territory, as well as external references.

Content related to open data

It also includes a summary section on OPEN DATA, which includes the regulations to be applied and links of interest, in addition to:

• The list of 40 datasets recommended by the FEMP in 2019. This document includes a series of datasets that should be published by all local authorities in Spain in order to standardise the publication of open data and facilitate its management. The list generated by Alba Smart includes information on the local council service responsible for opening each dataset.

• A summary of the implementation plan followed by the council, which includes the workflow to be followed, emphasising the need for it to be carried out continuously: identifying new sources of information, reviewing internal processes, etc.

• A series of training videos, produced in-house, to assist colleagues in the preparation and publication of data. They include tutorials on how to organise data, how to catalogue data, and the review and approval process, among others.

• A (sample) manual on how to upload a file to their open data platform, which is developed with CKAN. It is a practical document, with screenshots, showing the whole process step by step.

• The list of vocabularies they use as a reference, which allow to systematically organise, categorise and tag information.

Among its next steps is the presentation of the datasets in the map viewer of the municipality. Data from the portal is already being fed into the corporate GIS to facilitate this function in the future.

All these actions are intended to ensure the sustainability of the portal, facilitating its continuous updating by a team with clear working procedures.

The provincial councils and equivalent bodies such as cabildos or island councils are the governing bodies of the provinces and foral territories, responsible for providing legal, economic and technical assistance and cooperation to the municipalities. Their impact is of particular importance in smaller municipalities, with less economic and management capacity, to which they provide services that they could not provide on their own.

In the open data ecosystem, the provincial councils play a very important role. On the one hand, they are promoters of open data in small municipalities, without sufficient resources to carry out these tasks. On the other hand, they have a large amount of valuable local data, which helps to detect singularities and specific needs.

An example of data opening by these organizations can be found in the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.

The strategic and regulatory framework of Gipuzkoa Irekia: a common access point to the data of various entities of the Provincial Government

The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has an open data catalog, the Gipuzkoa Irekia portal. It offers access to multiple datasets resulting from the activity of the Provincial Council itself and other associated entities of Gipuzkoa: the autonomous bodies Uliazpi and Kabia, the trading companies Bidegi, Etorlur, and Izfe, the General Councils of Gipuzkoa, 82 municipalities, 6 associations and the Waste Consortium of Gipuzkoa.

Each entity is autonomously incorporating the data in the Gipuzkoa Irekia repository, which is broken down into two main blocks: information related to transparency and open data. All its activity is framed within the following regulatory and strategic context:

1. The "Norma Foral 4/2019, of March 11, on Good Governance in the framework of the foral public governance", whose objective is to consolidate the implementation of a new model of relationship between the Administration and the citizens.

2. The Open Government Partnership Euskadi initiative, where the main Basque administrations (Basque Government, Provincial Council of Alava, Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, City Council of Bilbao, City Council of Donostia, City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz) have established several joint objectives to advance in the field of open data, such as:

• To advance in the standardization and normalization of data for its opening in a coordinated manner.
• To implement services based on open data that generate public value.
• Promote the culture of inter-administrative work.

3. The Digital Transformation Plan 2021-2025 of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, which establishes as an objective the development of the global data strategy that allows managing the availability, integrity and security of the data used in the organization. The data governance strategy foresees the creation of a data office whose implementation is in progress.

More than 2,200 datasets available to the public

Under this framework, the portal offers access to multiple datasets on population, health, economy or education, among many others. These data can be found in reusable and downloadable formats.

The working methodology for the publication is based on the information life cycle, a continuous cycle with 4 phases:

• Identification and selection of reusable information.
• Preparation and processing of the datasets.
• Publication.
• Maintenance of the datasets.

The datasets are gradually incorporated into the Gipuzkoa Irekia repository in collaboration with each of the entities responsible for the published data.

The datasets that have been worked on most recently are organized into several areas or families: sustainable mobility, sport and healthy living, and accountability. Among them, it is worth highlighting:

• Sustainable mobility: weekly traffic data, shows weekly data collected by the gauges installed in the main road networks of Gipuzkoa.
• Sport and healthy life: data on school children's participation in school sport activities, Gipuzkoa's federated licenses during the season and estimates of the number of people on Gipuzkoa's beaches.
• Accountability: subsidies granted, provides data on subsidies and grants awarded in competition by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.

Currently, the most visited data are those related to urban real estate and those related to taxes on economic activities. Within the publication strategy, importance is being given to the publication of real-time data, the consumption of which allows the creation of services with live data, such as traffic data or hydrological data.

A continuous activity over time

The commitment of the organizations associated with Gipuzkoa Irekia does not end with the publication of the data, but they always have in mind to continue improving functionalities and services. In this sense, the objectives set annually within the strategic plan are:

• Consolidate the publication of data in Gipuzkoa Irekia to facilitate the location and centralized access to open data. Recently, the portal has been updated to reorganize the contents, update the support platform and, in addition, revise the aesthetics of the portal.
• Improve the availability of disaggregated data, in open, standardized and normalized formats, in order to improve the accessibility and exploitation of the data so that they can be processed in an automated way.
• To offer visualizations that facilitate the interpretation of published data.
• Contribute to the implementation of inter-administrative services that are fed with open data by the main Basque public administrations.

Use cases and applications based on Gipuzkoa Irekia data

All datasets can be freely used and redistributed by anyone, as long as the copyright conditions defined in each dataset are respected. Normally, the reuse conditions allow sharing, creating and adapting as long as the origin of the data is cited.

Several departments of the Provincial Council itself, as well as other public entities have taken advantage of these datasets to launch services such as: 

• KulturKlik. This is a common repository that brings together cultural events. The data of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa have been standardized in order to integrate them automatically.
• Social Observatory of Gipuzkoa Behagi. Shows indicators and visualizations with data on people at risk or in poverty, elderly or disabled, among others.
• Euskadi Traffic. It is an API that provides data on the traffic situation in the Basque Country with information from various administrations. This REST service is focused on application developers and, in general, public data reusers.
• Nik Hondartzak. It is an application that allows to consult during the beach season, in real time, the occupancy level of each beach.

These examples show the value of this more local data for citizens and public institutions. It is therefore not surprising that more and more councils are being encouraged to open their data and generate valuable services based on them.

The end of winter is approaching and, with the change of season, comes the time to compile the main developments of the last three months.

Autumn ended with the approval of Royal Decree-Law 24/2021, which includes the transposition of the European Directive on open data and re-use of public sector information, and now we end the winter with another regulatory advance, this time at European level: the publication of the draft Regulation on the establishment of harmonised rules on access and fair use of data (Data Act), applicable to all economic sectors and which proposes new rules on who can use and access data generated in the EU and under what conditions.

These regulatory developments have been joined by many others in the area of openness and re-use of data. In this article we highlight some examples.

Public data and disruptive technologies

The relationship between open data and new technologies is increasingly evident through various projects that aim to generate improvements in society. Universities are a major player in this field, with innovative projects such as:

• The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has launched the project "Bots for interacting with open data - Conversational interfaces to facilitate access to public data". Its aim is to help citizens improve their decision-making through access to data, as well as to optimise the return on investment of open data projects.
• The UOC has also launched, together with the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), OptimalSharing@SmartCities, which optimises the use of car sharing in cities through intelligent algorithms capable of processing large amounts of data. They are currently working with data from the Open Data BCN initiative.
• Researchers from the University of Cantabria are participating in the SALTED project, aimed at reusing open data from IoT devices, the web and social networks. The aim is to transform them into "useful" information in fields such as urban management or agriculture.

Public bodies are also increasingly harnessing the potential of open data to implement solutions that optimise resources, boost efficiency and improve the citizen experience. Many of these projects are linked to smart cities.

• The Cordoba Provincial Council's 'Enlaza, Cordoba Smart Municipalities' project seeks to intelligently manage municipal electricity supplies. A proprietary software has been developed and different municipal facilities have been sensorised with the aim of obtaining data to facilitate decision-making. Among other issues, the province's infrastructures will be used to incorporate a platform that favours the use of open data.
• The eCitySevilla and eCityMálaga projects have brought together 90 public and private entities to promote a smart city model at the forefront of innovation and sustainability. Among other issues, they will integrate open data, renewable energies, sustainable transport, efficient buildings and digital infrastructures.
• One area where data-driven solutions have a major impact is in tourism. In this sense, the Segovia Provincial Council has created a digital platform to collect tourism data and adjust its proposals to the demands of visitors. The visualisation of updated data will be obtained in real time and will make it possible to learn more about the tourism behaviour of visitors.
• For its part, the Consell de Mallorca has set up a Sustainable Tourism Observatory that will provide permanently updated information to define strategies and make decisions based on real data.

To boost the use of data analytics in public bodies, the Andalusian Digital Agency has announced the development of a unit to boost Big Data. Its aim is to provide data analytics-related services to different Andalusian government agencies.

Other examples of open data re-use

Open data is also increasingly in demand by journalists for so-called data journalism. This is especially noticeable in election periods, such as the recent elections to the Castilla y León parliament. Re-users such as Maldita or EPData have taken advantage of the open data offered by the Junta to create informative pieces and interactive maps to bring information closer to the citizens.

Public bodies themselves also take advantage of visualisations to bring data to the public in a simple way. As an example, the map of the National Library of Spain with the Spanish authors who died in 1941, whose works become public domain in 2022 and, therefore, can be edited, reproduced or disseminated publicly.

Another example of the reuse of open data can be found in the Fallas of Valencia. In addition to the classic ninot, this festival also has immaterial fallas that combine tradition, technology and scientific dissemination. This year, one of them consists of an interactive game that uses open data from the city to pose various questions.

Open data platforms are constantly being upgraded

During this season we have also seen many public bodies launching new portals and tools to facilitate access to data, and thus its re-use. Likewise, catalogues have been constantly updated and the information offered has been expanded. The following are some examples:

• Sant Boi Town Council has recently launched its digital platform Open Data. It is a space that allows users to explore and download open data from the City Council easily, free of charge and without restrictions.
• As part of its Smart City project, Alcoi City Council has set up a website with open data on traffic and environmental indicators. Here you can consult data on air quality, sound pressure, temperature and humidity in different parts of the city.
• The Castellón Provincial Council has developed an intuitive and easy-to-use tool to facilitate and accompany citizens' requests for access to public information. It has also updated the information on infrastructures and equipment of the municipalities of Castellón on the provincial institution's data portal in geo-referenced formats, which facilitates its reuse.
• The Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia (IECA) has updated the data tables offered through its BADEA databank. Users can now sort and filter all the information with a single click. In addition, a new section has been created on the website aimed at reusers of statistical information. Its aim is to make the data more accessible and interoperable.
• IDECanarias has published an orthophoto of La Palma after the volcanic eruption. It can be viewed through the GRAFCAN viewer. It should be noted that open data has been of great importance in analysing the damage caused by the lava on the island.
• GRAFCAN has also updated the Territorial Information System of the Canary Islands (SITCAN), incorporating 25 new points of interest. This update facilitates the location of 36,753 points of interest in the archipelago through the portal of the Spatial Data Infrastructure of the Canary Islands (IDECanarias).
• Barcelona Provincial Council offers a new service for downloading open geographic data, with free and open access, through the IDEBarcelona geoportal. This service was presented through a session (in Catalan), which was recorded and is available on Youtube.
• The municipal GIS of the City Council of Cáceres has made available to citizens the free download of the updated cartography of the city of Extremadura in different formats such as DGN, DWG, SHP or KMZ.

New reports, guides, courses and challenges

These three months have also seen the publication and launch of resources and activities aimed at promoting open data:

• The Junta de Castilla y León has published the guide "Smart governance: the challenge of public service management in local government", which includes tools and use cases to boost efficiency and effectiveness through participation and open data.
• The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has updated the ranking of open access portals and repositories worldwide in support of Open Science initiatives. This ranking is based on the number of papers indexed in the Google Scholar database.
• The commitment of local councils to open data is also evident in the implementation of training initiatives and internal promotion of open data. In this sense, L'Hospitalet City Council has launched two new internal tools to promote the use and dissemination of data by municipal employees: a data visualisation guide and another on graphic guidelines and data visualisation style.
• Along the same lines, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) has launched the Course on Open Data Treatment and Management in Local Entities, which will be held at the end of March (specifically on 22, 24, 29 and 31 March 2022). The course is aimed at technicians without basic knowledge of Local Entities.

Multiple competitions have also been launched, which aim to boost the use of data, especially at university level, for example The Generalitat Valenciana with POLIS, a project in which students from three secondary schools will learn the importance of understanding and analysing public policies using open data available in public bodies.

In addition, the registration period for the IV Aporta Challenge, focused on the field of Health and Wellbeing, ended this winter. Among the proposals received we find predictive models that allow us to know the evolution of diseases or algorithms that cross-reference data and determine healthy habits.

Other news of interest in Europe

In addition to the publication of the Data Act, we have also seen other developments in Europe:

• JoinUp has published the latest version of the metadata application profile specification for open data portals in Europe, DCAT-AP 2.1.
• In line with the European Data Strategy, the European Commission has published a working document with its overview of common European data spaces.
• The Publications Office of the European Union has launched the sixth edition of the EU Datathon. In this competition, participants have to use open data to address one of four proposed challenges.
• The EU Science Hub has published a report presenting examples of use cases linked to data sharing. They explore emerging technologies and tools for data-driven innovation.

These are just some examples of the latest developments in the open data ecosystem in Spain and Europe. If you want to share a project or news with us, leave us a comment or write to dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

Last December, the Government of Navarra presented its new open data portal datosabiertos.navarra.es. It is a platform created with the aim of integrating the catalogs of the different institutions, agencies or entities in the region.

A data portal for the entire territory of Navarre

Until now, the Government of Navarre offered datasets to citizens through a specific section within the Open Government portal. The new portal, on the other hand, is presented as a platform that extends its scope to other institutions and organizations. The data published is no longer limited to those generated by the regional administration, but functions as a complete portal for the entire territory of the Autonomous Community of Navarre.

The portal makes it possible to manage and publish datasets and their metadata. Through a federator, organizations can automatically integrate their data portals into the platform.

The new platform has tools for cataloging and searching data. It also has an API aimed at reusers and developers to facilitate data search, access and consumption.

This platform has also been integrated with datos.gob.es, so that the information published can be accessed from the National Open Data Catalog. This action not only boosts the visibility of Navarre's datasets at national level, but also at European level, since datos.gob.es is automatically federated with the European Data Portal.

Top datasets

The platform currently has more than 1,200 datasets, classified into 22 thematic categories.

Autumn is coming to an end and, as every time we change season, we would like to summarize some of the main news and developments of the last three months.

One of the main advances of open data in our country has occurred in the legislative field, with the approval of the transposition of the European Directive on open data and reuse of public sector information. It has been included in the Royal Decree-Law 24/2021, validated last December 2 by the Congress. You can read about the new features here.

It is expected that, under the protection of this regulation, the Spanish open data ecosystem will continue to grow, as shown by the new developments in recent months. In the case of datos.gob.es, we have reached 160 public administrations publishing data this fall, exceeding 50,000 datasets accessible from the National Catalog. In addition, many organizations and reusers have launched new projects linked to open data, as we will see below.

La Palma volcano, an example of the value of public data

This autumn will be remembered in our country for the eruption of the volcano on the island of La Palma. A situation that has highlighted the importance of the publication and use of open data for the management of natural emergencies.

The open data portal of La Palma has offered -and offers- updated information about the eruption in Cumbre Vieja. Data on perimeters, photogrammetries, thermographs or terrain models can be consulted and downloaded from its website. In addition, the Cabildo Insular has created a unified point to collect all the information of interest in real time in a simple way. It is also important the data and tools made available to the public by the National Geographic Institute. In addition, the Copernicus Earth Observation Program offers data and maps of interest, as well as management support.

All these data have allowed the development of 3D viewers and tools to compare the situation prior to the eruption with the current one, which are very useful to understand the magnitude of the event and make decisions accordingly. The data have also been used by the media and reusers to create visuals to help transmit information to the public, such as this visual tour of the tongue of fire from the recording of the seismic activity to its arrival at the sea or this animation that shows in just 30 seconds, the 5,000 seismic movements recorded in La Palma to date.

Growing use of open data and new technologies

In addition to emergency management, open data is also increasingly being used by public agencies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their activities, often in conjunction with disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Some examples are shown below:

• The Murcia City Council has announced that it is developing new sustainable mobility management models using data from the Copernicus Earth Observation Program. The information obtained will make it possible to offer new intelligent mobility services oriented to citizens, companies and public administrations of the municipality.
• Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has presented a Sustainable Tourism Intelligence System. It is a digital tool that provides updated data from multiple sources for decision-making and improving competitiveness, both for companies and for the tourist destination itself.
• The Vigo City Council plans to create a 3D model of the entire city, combining open data with geographic data. This action will be used to develop elements such as noise, pollution and traffic maps, among others.
• The Junta de Castilla y León is working on the Bision Project, a Business Intelligence system for better decision making in the field of health. The new system would automatically allow the development of instruments for evaluating the quality of the healthcare system.  It is worth mentioning that the Junta de Castilla y León has received an award for the quality and innovation of its transparency portal during the pandemic thanks to its open data platform.
• The massive Artificial Intelligence system of the Spanish language MarIA, promoted by the State Secretariat for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, is making progress in its development. Based on the web archives of the Spanish National Library, a new version has been created that allows summarizing existing texts and creating new ones based on headlines or words.

What's new in open data platforms

In order to continue developing this type of projects, it is essential to continue promoting access to quality data and tools that facilitate their exploitation. In this regard, some of the new developments are:

• The Government of Navarra has presented a new portal in a conference at the University of Navarra, with the participation of the Aporta initiative. Cordoba, which has also approved the implementation of a new open data and transparency portal, will soon follow.
• Aragon's open data portal has released a new version of its API, the GA_OD_Core service. Its aim is to offer citizens and developers the ability to access the data offered on the portal and integrate them into different apps and services through REST architecture. In addition, Aragón has also presented a new virtual assistant that facilitates the location and access to data. It is a chatbot that provides answers based on the data it contains, with a conversational level that can be understood by the receiver.
• The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has published a viewer to consult the transport infrastructures belonging to the Trans-European Transport Network in Spain (TEN-T). The viewer allows the downloading of open data of the network, as well as projects co-financed with CEF funds.
• The Madrid City Council has presented Cibeles+, an artificial intelligence project to facilitate access to urban planning information. Using natural language processing techniques and machine learning, the system responds to complex urban planning questions and issues through Alexa and Twitter.
• The geoportal of the IDE Barcelona has launched a new open geographic data download service with free and open access. Among the information published in vector format, the topographic cartography (scale 1:1000) stands out. It includes urban and developable areas and sectors of interest in undeveloped land.
• The Valencia City Council has developed a data inventory to measure efficiency in the implementation of public policies. This tool will also allow citizens to access public information more quickly.

It should also be noted that the Pinto City Council has confirmed its adherence to the principles of the international Open Data Charter (ODC) with the commitment to improve open data policies and governance.

Boosting reuse and data-related capabilities

Public bodies have also launched various initiatives to promote the use of data. Among them, datos.gob.es launched at the end of November the fourth edition of the Aporta Challenge, focused on the field of health and welfare. This seeks to identify and recognize new ideas and prototypes that drive improvements in this field, using open data from public bodies.

This season we also met the winners of the V Open Data Contest organized by the Junta de Castilla y León.  Of the 37 applications received, a jury of experts in the field has chosen 8 projects that have emerged as winners in the various categories.

Also, increasingly popular are the courses and seminars that are launched to increase the acquisition of data-related knowledge. Here are two examples:

• The City Council of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat has launched a training program on the use of data for municipal workers. This plan is structured in 22 different courses that will be taught until May next year.
• The Open Cities project has delivered a cycle of workshops related to open data in Smart cities. The complete video is available at this link.

Other news of interest in Europe

At the European level, we have ended the autumn with two major actions: the publication of the Open Data Maturity Index 2021, prepared by the European Data Portal, and the celebration of the EU Open Data Days. In the first one, it should be noted that Spain is in third position and is once again among the leading countries in open data in Europe. For its part, the EU Open Data Days were made up of the EU DataViz 2021 conference and the final of the EU Datathon 2021, where the Spanish company CleanSpot came second in its category. This app raises awareness and encourages recycling and reuse of products through gamification.

The European portal has also launched the Open Data Academy, with all available courses structured around four themes: policy, impact, technology and quality (the same as those assessed by the aforementioned maturity index). The curriculum is constantly updated with new materials.

Other new features include:

• The DCAT Application Profile for Data Portals in Europe (DCAT-AP) has been updated. The preliminary version of DCAT-AP version 2.1.0 was available for public review between October and November 2021.
• Asedie has been selected by the Global Data Barometer (GBD) and Access Info Europe, as "Country Researcher" for the elaboration of the 1st edition of the Global Data Barometer 20-21. This is a research project that analyses how data is managed, shared and used for the common good.
• The OpenCharts map catalog of European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which offers hundreds of open charts, has been updated. This RAM magazine article tells you what's new.
• The UK government has launched one of the world's first national standards for algorithmic transparency. This follows commitments made in its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and its National Data Strategy.

Do you know of other examples of projects related to open data? Leave us a comment or write to dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

In view of the series of current and future trends around the future of open data indicated in our report, we wanted to check to what extent these - or similar - trends are already present in the global open data community. To this end, we have verified the current activities and future plans of several countries through documentation available from various sources such as thel Open Government Partnership, the OECD, the Latin American Open Data Initiative, the International Open Data Charter, the African Open Data Network (AODN), the Open Data Policy Lab and the official national open data initiatives themselves. You can access the open data platforms of the portals analysed through the following infographic.

Access the accessible version

What we have found confirms the report's observations and also includes other associated trends such as the redesign of open data platforms; the increasing availability of open data on natural resources and climate change; the new and relevant role of data in health crises; the growing use of open data in the fight against corruption; the promotion of open science; the publication of data of particular social relevance; the increased sensitivity to the need for disaggregated and gender-sensitive data; or the growth of open data at the regional and local level. Below, we will review some of the examples of each of these trends that we have found around the world:

America

• Canada: The government is currently working on improving its open.canada.ca open data portal to make it more user-friendly, facilitate searches, and encourage interaction and collaboration among community members - for example, through new data use stories. In addition, the government is also making a firm commitment to open science, including among other measures the creation of a new open science data portal that is expected to be improved and expanded over time.
• Mexico: after a long history as a leader in open data in the region, its efforts have recently focused on improving access to information with two main objectives: to make life easier for its citizens and to increase the level of public scrutiny. To this end, Mexico is developing programs to improve access to data and information related to key issues such as education, public spending on social development, anti-corruption, natural resource management or corporate beneficiary records.
• Brazil: having completed its new data openness reference model and the control panel for monitoring data openness, current efforts are mainly focused on fostering an active ecosystem around data to promote the effective use of data - as this has been the main barrier identified in achieving a higher level of reuse and innovation. However, there are also other initiatives underway to improve data availability in some key areas such as property registration or transportation.
• United States: the country has recently implemented a new federal data strategy whose main objectives include improving the capabilities and knowledge of data in the administration in order to be able to use this input regularly as a decision-making tool. Thus, its most recent action plan focuses on the development of communities of practice and shared solutions. Other measures include the incorporation of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) in a total of 24 agencies and departments; the creation of a federal council in which all of them participate; or the strengthening of the publication of health data with the aim of responding to the most pressing public health challenges of today, including the pandemic or the crisis surrounding the indiscriminate use of opioids.
• Colombia: its most recent commitment to purposeful open data is clearly focused on data to fight corruption: of the 93 datasets listed in its roadmap, one third are related to the Inter-American PIDA Program for the fight against corruption. The other current focus within the strategy is on promoting open data at the sub-national level, with simultaneous actions in Palmira, Yumbo, Cali, Boyacá and Valle del Cauca.
• Uruguay: perhaps the most outstanding recent action may be its pilot experience in the implementation of the openness guide for action against climate change in collaboration with the International Open Data Charter. However, the country also currently has an ambitious open data agenda that includes actions as varied as the complete renovation of its data portal, improvements in the availability of cadastral data and budget transparency or increasing the visibility of data on gender violence. It is therefore not surprising that the country leads the latest edition of the Regional Open Data Barometer.
• Argentina: at the technical and data governance level, it is worth highlighting the progress made in the implementation of its data as a service policy, designed to achieve a high level of quality and interoperability of data published by design. Regarding improvements in data availability, efforts are lately focused on areas such as transparency in public spending, procurement and extractive industries (through the implementation of GIFT, OCDS and EITI standards respectively).

Asia and Oceania

• South Korea: its current open data agenda is focused on increasing the use cases of data by working more closely with companies and research centers. This will be guided by its new data release strategy (part of the Korean New Deal) which focuses on the release of certain data of high value and interest to industry, such as autonomous driving, smart cities and healthcare.
• Japan: in response to the apparent low level of digital preparedness for events such as the current pandemic, the government recently decided to create the Digital Agency, a cross-cutting agency that is now in charge of the also new national data strategy. This strategy is distinguished by its particular citizen-centric and trust-centric vision, whereby data is seen as the basis for all social and industrial activities and the government functions as a platform to serve them.
• Taiwan: the Taiwanese government's current focus is on collaboration through data - the main exponent of which was seen through the government's exemplary response to the pandemic crisis through the correct use of data - working alongside the other actors in the community, not only in its exploitation, but also in understanding the challenges faced by those trying to use it and what skills they will need to develop in order to do so.
• Australia: in addition to continuing its efforts in the open publication of procurement data, the activities of the national open data initiative are lately focused on the implementation of the Data Transparency and Availability Act -guided by the National Data Commissioner- and the commitment to improve the skills of participation and collaboration in the design of public services, which is already beginning to manifest itself through actions such as communities of practice or the new pilot program of data inventory with a focus on the needs of the people.
• New Zealand: the country has just launched the update of its government data strategy and roadmap, whose main objectives are the publication of data with purpose, the promotion of good practices and new internal capabilities, the creation of effective partnerships and collaborations, and transparency in governance practices and data openness. This new strategy is also accompanied by other improvements in the usability of the data portal and mandatory data standards.

Europe

• United Kingdom: The latest significant milestone in the UK government's long-running open data journey has been the new reform of the national data strategy to stimulate economic growth and innovation while strengthening trust in public data. This change of direction will be guided by the Center for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), whose two-year plan currently underway envisages as its main objectives maximizing public benefit through data and building a consistent artificial intelligence ecosystem that can give rise to transformative projects.
• France: true to its role as one of the leaders of the open data movement in the world, the French government is undertaking one of the biggest transformations underway today through its FranceConnect platform, which use will be mandatory for all public authorities from 2022, thus giving rise to what could be the first native platform for the opening and reuse of public administration information. In the meantime, it also continues to work tirelessly on continuously improving its current strengths, including expanding its team, gradually improving the open data portal, collaborating with other actors and expanding local openness initiatives.
• Germany: developments in the German open data agenda include mainly two key actions in the near future. On the one hand, the evolution towards an information platform for government data (known as VIP) whose objective will be to function as a central hub to facilitate the findability of data and verify its quality, although without actually hosting it directly. On the other hand, regular meetings in different formats will be encouraged to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences between different actors.
• Ireland: the government continues to be immersed in the implementation of its 2017-2022 open data strategy whose main objective is to expand the amount of reusable data available while creating connections with the reuser community to promote the economic and social benefits of data. This strategy has subsequently been complemented by the public service data strategy that positions open data as a central element of public data management and governance.
• Denmark: despite being a particular case in the open data universe with its municipal and regional open data catalog as the main reference and a national data catalog that is out of the usual standards, this has not been an impediment to the continuous advancement of its open data strategy that currently has as its main focus the publication of data on natural resources and climate - which is perfectly reflected in the openness activity at the regional and local level. The recent report on the value of open data in municipalities is another reflection of the prominence of openness at the sub-national level in the country.
• Finland: three main actions are on its national open data agenda - (1) the development of standardized interfaces to facilitate self-discovery of new datasets, (2) the establishment of new quality criteria to facilitate reuse, and (3) the development of guidelines for the ethical use of data in artificial intelligence.

Africa

• South Africa: Data openness activity continues to make modest progress and the government's intentions are currently focused on fiscal and corporate beneficial ownership transparency. At the same time, a need has been identified to work with potential data intermediaries to improve their usability when applying data to their own context, thereby improving the potential for data reuse and impact.
• Ghana: following the re-launch of its open data initiative - in which special emphasis was placed on training public workers - the government's efforts are now focused on facilitating access to information related to transparency and anti-corruption with ambitious plans to publish data on parliamentary activity, asset declarations, company beneficiaries, oil sales and public investment.
• Tunisia: the government started the year with the publication of a new decree on public open data that aims to lay the groundwork for the renewal of its open data catalog to adapt it to current standards of data collection and classification, and the development of data inventories in strategic sectors such as health, education or justice.

In short, the open data movement continues to advance worldwide, focused not only on publishing data but also on extracting its maximum value. This is reflected in our country.

In our case, a series of relevant milestones coincide in time, among which we can highlight the new Digital Spain and Open Government plans, the Digital Education and Digital Skills action plans, the creation of the figure of the Chief Data Officer or the new Strategic Data Office. Their combination may result in a key turning point in taking the national open data initiative to the next level.

Content prepared by Carlos Iglesias, Open data Researcher and consultant, World Wide Web Foundation.

The contents and views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

Under the name of Dato Abierto, the open data initiative of La Rioja continues to grow. To date, its portal has more than 400 datasets, most of which are federated in datos.gob.es. These datasets have accumulated more than 120,000 downloads, the most popular being those related to public procurement, weather stations and the municipal census.

In order to continue promoting the publication of datasets, but also their reuse, the initiative is working on a medium and long-term action plan, as well as on projects to improve interoperability.

A clear roadmap for data openness

Following the commitments made by the Autonomous Community in the IV Open Government Plan, La Rioja is carrying out actions to improve access to the information it holds. The first step is the development of a roadmap with a forecast of the datasets to be opened each year. To this end, a preliminary analysis has been carried out:

• On the one hand, they have analyzed their current portals, both open data and transparency, using the MESTA methodology (Methodology for evaluation and monitoring of the transparency of public activity) of the Council for Transparency and Good Governance.
• On the other hand, they have performed a benchmarking with other national and European public sector open data portals. As a result, good practices have been collected according to reference systems such as the Open Data Barometer, the Open Data Index, Open Data Charter, ODRA (V3.1), the UNE 178301, the FEMP and the OGP Euskadi.

The result of the study is the definition of 20 data families:

The attached document shows which international indicators have been used to define each category, as well as the resources to be opened related to each field. For example, in the case of health data, they have been inspired by the best practices of the Open Data Barometer and the ODRA (V3.1). The data proposed to be opened in this category are: activity data for certain services, everything related to COVID19 (number of antigen and PCR tests, number of cases, ICU places occupied, etc.), user satisfaction indicators, geocoded hospital and outpatient data, and basic health areas.

The selection, monitoring and evaluation of the published data and its associated metadata will be carried out by an internal Open Data Committee, soon to be created.

Improved interoperability

In La Rioja, they are aware that it is not enough to open data, but that it is necessary to do so according to requirements that facilitate its use. For this reason, they are working on a project for the semantic representation of information: the Semantic Platform of the Government of La Rioja.

Through this platform, public resources are classified into different subjects and represented by ontologies that will make it possible to have a standardized common frame of reference. The aim is to implement a system based on Tim Berners Lee's 5 stars, thus enabling data to be referenced among themselves (what we know as Linked Open Data).

For this work they use as reference dictionaries and thesauri such as EUROVOC and thematic classifications such as those provided by the Technical Standard for Interoperability (NTI).

Going a step further: the implementation of new technologies at the service of open data

In line with the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (ENIA), La Rioja is promoting the use of AI for data-driven public management. They are currently immersed in a pilot where machine learning techniques are used for the interpretation of natural language. Thanks to this, they can automatically analyse metadata, extract entities and classify them thematically based on pre-established dictionaries.

Finally, it should be noted that among its future plans is also the approval of a law on Transparency, Good Governance and Open Data which, among other issues, regulates the opening of data.

With all these actions, La Rioja seeks great advances in integrating, unifying, publishing, linking and exploiting the information existing in the institution. This work is essential so that companies, individuals or the public administration itself can work with these data in a simpler way and extract all the value.

A few weeks ago, we picked up on an article what were the most demanded datasets among all those offered by the Autonomous Communities, and that met certain standards that encouraged their reuse.On this occasion, we would like to focus on local entities. In order to draw up the list, we have taken the same questionnaire as a reference, where they were asked to identify in a simple way sets of data published by their organisation and which, from their point of view, meet the aforementioned characteristics. The Provincial Councils and Municipalities that have collaborated are:

All these organizations share data openly and in formats that facilitate their use by companies, researchers or the general public, through different spaces, accessible in the previous links. Most of the participants are local councils, but there are also two provincial councils. Provincial councils play a very important role in the open data ecosystem, as they promote the opening of data in small town councils, which without them would not be able to carry out these tasks. They are fundamental when it comes to highlighting interesting and useful regional data.

These 17 local entities are just a small sample of the open data ecosystem at the local level in Spain, but the presence in our country of this type of project is much greater. Specifically, in datos.gob.es we have identified 230 local initiatives open data.

Transport, environment and public sector, the most demanded data categories

From the responses of the organizations participating in the survey, it is extracted that the most demanded local data sets are the following:

Click here to see the infographic in full size and in its accessible version.

Three categories stand out: transport, environment and public sector data. Three fundamental sectors to achieve efficient and sustainable cities.

In the case of transport data, those related to the state of traffic, parking lots and public services (such as public buses or bicycles) stand out, key to promoting an environmentally friendly transport system, in line with the marked on the "Sustainable and smart mobility strategy". These data are usually provided in real time, facilitating their re-use and helping public administrations, private companies and individuals to manage mobility more efficiently.

The air quality data are the most prominent in the environment section, highlighting the growing concern about pollution in our cities. Do not forget that according to the study Air quality in the Spanish State during 2020, prepared by Ecologists in Action, 42 million people breathed polluted air during the past year (that is, 88.4% of the population), which caused 30,000 premature deaths. Public agencies are increasingly aware of this situation, and carry out air quality assessments on a regular basis, which has led to the installation of more monitoring stations. Spain currently has 616 monitoring stations for official assessment, of which 535 measure NO2 and 475 record information on PM10 levels, generating valuable data for reutlisation and policy decisions.

In the environment category we also find datasets related to garbage management, noise pollution or trees in cities.

Regarding the public sector, we find a large number of datasets related to urban planning and infrastructures, such as the street map, municipal cartography or real estate. Datasets related to the activity of Public Administrations and their transparency, such as contracts, budgets or subsidies, also stand out.

Other prominent categories are the economy, employment and tourism, with datasets such as the Directory of businesses or hotels and restaurants; culture and leisure, where we find datasets on sports facilities or the events agenda; or health, with information on health centers, pharmacies or covid data. Finally, data on education, society and well-being, demography, science and technology, and housing have also been collected.

It should be noted that a large majority of the data sets highlighted by the Town Halls and Provincial Councils are included in the guide. Open data FEMP 2019: 40 datasets to be published by Local Entities, elaborated by the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces of Spain(FEMP). It contains a series of datasets considered priority and that should be published openly by local organizations, as well as instructions to do so in a harmonized way that facilitates interoperability.They also coincide with the vocabularies promoted by the Ciudades Abiertas project. It is, therefore, an opportunity to advance in the standardisation of the way in which data is published.

Why is local open data important?

The possibility of having local data, updated and differentiated by municipalities (or even districts or streets), allows to know the reality of each geographical area in a more concrete way. It allows us to appreciate differences and needs, and based on this, make more accurate decisions that help promote public policies aligned with the demands of citizens.

This data can also be reused, both by the administration itself and by third parties, to launch products that bring public services closer to citizens. This is the case of transport applications, which inform us about the most efficient and fastest way to reach our destination; or apps to recycle, which tell us where the closest waste containers are.

In short, the publication and reuse of open data not only benefits citizens, but also administrations when it comes to performing a more efficient management.

At the end of last year, the IV Open Government Plan for Spain was published, which included a series of commitments that public administrations undertook related to accountability, improved participation or open data and the reuse of public information, among other aspects. The objective: to contribute to a fairer, more peaceful and inclusive society.

In this article we will review the strategies linked to open data of the Autonomous Communities and the commitments made in this plan.

Access the accessible version

Andalusia

The Junta de Andalucía's open data portal has 4 objectives: Transparency; Innovation and economic growth; Efficiency and effectiveness of the administration; and Inclusion and empowerment of citizens. Its actions are framed within the Junta de Andalucía's Open Government Action Plan.

Its future plans are the implementation of formalised openness mechanisms, both technical and organisational. High-value datasets will be selected, common vocabularies will be defined and permanent contact will be established with the community of re-users to encourage re-use. Methodologies and processes for data-driven decision making will also be enabled, and a training plan on Open Government and open data will be carried out, especially targeting administration staff.

Asturias

The data catalogue of the Principality of Asturias is integrated in its Open Government area and its activity is framed within the Law of the Principality of Asturias 8/2018, of 14 September, on Transparency, Good Governance and Interest Groups.

The Asturian Government has committed, in the IV Open Government Plan, to the elaboration of the Strategic Transparency Plan of the Principality of Asturias (PETPA) with measures that contribute to the compliance with the Asturian Law 8/2018. This Plan will also include mechanisms for training, awareness-raising, participation, monitoring, control and evaluation in the field of Transparency.

Aragon

The Aragon Open Data Strategy focuses on two pillars. On the one hand, promoting interoperability, through the Interoperable Information Structure of Aragon EI2A. On the other hand, active listening, with actions such as Aragon Open Data Focus, aimed at getting to know publishers and users of open data better (more information in this interview). In their strategy they propose a model and a roadmap defining the mission, vision and values of Aragón Open Data:

• Mission: to be the catalogue from which citizens and companies can access the set of open data offered by the Government of Aragon and other institutions.
• Vision: to provide a treatment of information systems that not only generates wealth, but also develops and consolidates the infomediary sector to improve the social and economic development of the region.
• Values: quality, interoperability, participation, coordination, collaboration, transparency and accessibility.

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands have committed to centralising the public data of the different administrations of the islands in a single access point (called Canarias Datos abiertos), with the aim of improving the location and accessibility of the information, applying processes of standardisation of formats and ensuring interoperability, among other reasons.

Its commitments also include promoting participation, through a Canary Islands Open Government Network as a meeting point for the bodies of the Canary Islands Public Administration. All of this will be reflected in the Open Government Strategy for the Canarian Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030, recently presented.

Castilla y León

Castilla y León is a very active region in the open data ecosystem, with a special focus on dissemination and awareness-raising. It is currently running the fifth edition of its open data competition to promote the reuse of its datasets.

In the IV Open Government Plan, they are committed to approving a new law and drawing up a catalogue of public information, already approved, where the commitment of each organ, body and public entity of the regional public sector is materialised. The aim is to increase the volume of relevant, clear and structured public information to be actively disseminated.

Castilla y León is drafting the new Law on Transparency, access to public information and its reuse, which includes the so-called "Open Data clause": any IT development, whether carried out with its own or external resources, must facilitate the extraction of the information collected, recorded or collected in reusable formats.

Castilla - La Macha

The "Open Data of Castilla-La Mancha" space is the result of Law 4/2016, of 15 December, on Transparency and Good Governance of Castilla-La Mancha. Castilla-La Mancha's strategy has focused on constant openness and training. Since 2017, a Training Plan has been approved which includes specific courses on open data and reuse of information aimed at public employees. In addition, through a collaboration agreement with the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Specialisation Course in Open Government (previously called Transparency and Access to Public Information) is being developed, which includes, among others, the subjects of access, open data and reuse of public information.

Among the objectives to be addressed in the coming months is the development of an improvement plan for its Open Data space, which will include advances in the visualisation of information, the incorporation of high-value data and data governance, among other issues.

Cantabria

Cantabria does not have a centralised open data portal for the whole territory, although we can find the ICANE (Cantabrian Institute of Statistics) open data space focused on the opening and reuse of statistical data. They also offer the possibility of downloading cartographies and geographic information from their geographic viewer.

In the 4th Open Government Plan, they have focused on the area of citizen participation, committing themselves to drafting a new law that establishes the material channels and provides information and knowledge to citizens, with the aim of motivating their participation. Until now, the regulatory framework in this area has been marked by Law 1/2018, of 21 March, on Transparency in Public Activity.

Catalonia

The Government of Catalonia is committed to citizen participation. Its open data strategy has been closely linked to contact with society and the business world, through different actions such as the "Café amb Dades" information sessions.

In the IV Open Government Plan, they committed to creating a virtual meeting place for all the actors working in the field of citizen participation: ParticipaCatalunya.cat, which is already operational. They also plan to build a space for citizen participation to supervise the Generalitat's anti-corruption strategy, as well as to prioritise the opening of public information related to gender inequality, in order to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of public policies on equality. For the time being, they are working under the umbrella of their Open Government Plan 2019-2020, which was extended last year.

Extremadura

Within the area of citizen participation and transparency of the Regional Government of Extremadura we find its catalogue of publications, the result of the law 4/2013, of 21 May, on Open Government of Extremadura, which guarantees the right of access to public information. Its strategy also includes the Digital Modernisation Plan 2020-2024 of the Regional Government of Extremadura, which includes, among its priorities, data orientation, promoting its cataloguing and reuse by proactively facilitating its accessibility and usability. Likewise, transparency is one of the ten principles that should guide the performance of the plan and, ultimately, the functioning of the Administration in this scenario of Digital Transformation.

Extremadura's commitments in the IV Open Government Plan are related to the simplification of the right of access to public information and the reduction of response times to the interested party's request, as well as to increasing the level of citizen satisfaction in access to public services, promoting their accessibility and usability through the redesign of processes.

Galicia

In the strategy of the Open Data initiative of Galicia, Abert@s, the importance of internal dissemination stands out, encouraging the participation of all areas in the publication of data, and the promotion of reuse. Its actions are carried out under the umbrella of Law 1/2016, of 18 January, on transparency and good governance.

Galicia's commitments in the IV Open Government Plan are related to improving the Galician government's decision-making, enhancing citizen participation and the automation of administrative procedures, as well as boosting accessibility in the Xunta de Galicia's Transparency and Open Government Portal. They also want to improve the quality of information and promote the publication of content in reusable formats, among others.

Balearic Islands

The regulatory framework for Open Data in the Balearic Islands is Law 4/2011, of 31 March, on good administration and good government in the Balearic Islands, although the agreement that gave rise to its open data portal dates from a month earlier.

The Gobern's commitments on open government have mainly to do with training and regulation. On the one hand, they will carry out training activities aimed at public employees on open government, including open data. On the other hand, they will approve a new Transparency Law and a decree determining the organisation of transparency. The IV Open Government Plan includes more commitments, such as the creation of a platform for citizen participation and the development of an evaluability study to include monitoring indicators in public policies.

La Rioja

The open data portal of La Rioja responds to 2 laws: Law 3/2014, of 11 September, on Transparency and Good Governance of La Rioja and Decree 19/2013, of 31 May, which regulates the reuse of information in the Public Sector of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja.

Those responsible have committed to improving access to information on this portal, as well as on the Transparency Portal and the institutional website. The aim is to integrate, unify, publish, link and exploit the existing information in all of them, in a more efficient way. The development of a new website that is simpler, smarter and more efficient in terms of locating and reusing content will be promoted. Actions will also be developed to improve active publicity and the evaluation of the results of the plans and programmes.

Community of Madrid

The data portal of the Community of Madrid was launched in 2019, the same year as its Law 10/2019, of 10 April, on Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid. Since then, its portal has continued to grow, incorporating new datasets and sections aimed at reusers.

In the IV Open Government Plan, the Regional Government of Madrid highlights the importance of communication. It is committed to providing citizens with information in a simple, clear and effective way, so that they can interact more easily with the administration. As a background, they have already worked on a Clear Communication Guide that they want to extend to the field of transparency and citizen information.

Region of Murcia

The CARM has had an open data portal since 2014 and an open data strategy since 2016, which sets as one of its objectives the generation of value through the use of open data. The Regional Administration has included this policy in its Transparency and Open Government Portal, with the aim of aligning both strategies.

The commitments made by the CARM in the IV Open Government Plan are more closely linked to its Public Governance Strategy. Among the measures to be promoted is the creation of a framework for Institutional Integrity, including codes of conduct and training, dissemination and promotion actions, among others, as well as a Register of Interest Groups. Child and youth participation in the design of public policies will also be promoted through workshops.

Navarre

The open data portal of Navarre responds to the Foral Law 5/2018, of 17 May, on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance.  Work is currently being carried out on the integration of geographical data, which can be found in the Spatial Data Infrastructure of Navarre, and on the integration of a greater number of local entities.

Navarre wants to promote the use of open data on its portal, and therefore undertakes to publish datasets that are of greater interest for the reuse of public sector information and to improve the design and content of the Open Data space. It will incorporate data generated by (NA)SAT and will collaborate with the infomediary sector to identify data of greater interest. Among its objectives is also the federation of Open Data Navarra with broader open data catalogues, such as datos.gob.es.

Valencian Community

The opening and reuse of data is one of the strategic lines included in the Generalitat Valenciana's Biennial Transparency Plan. Although its open data portal dates back to 2016, a new version was launched in 2020, with a change of conception: they have gone from a data repository to a space open to the community of reusers.

In the coming months, Valencia will develop and implement an open data strategy in Valencian public administrations so that the data generated are open and reusable by default. The aim is to promote reuse, accountability and data-driven decision-making, among others. The Generalitat is also promoting instruments for better data management, such as the Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Valencian Region, and is committed to a collaborative budgeting project, as well as to institutionalising public ethics.

Basque Country

The Open Data Euskadi portal was a pioneer in our country, dating back to 2009. The promotion of open data and the encouragement of its reuse is the responsibility of the Directorate for Citizen Services and Digital Services, as stated in its structural decree. Some of its latest projects are the new Euskalmet website, created with open data, the creation of various open data APIs (traffic, cultural events, etc.) and its Open Data Competitions.

Its commitment is to work together with the main Basque administrations to identify sets of data demanded by the group of reusers in the Basque Country and by citizens, and to standardise and link this data, developing inter-institutional visualisations and services. All of this is accompanied by a participation and communication plan in terms of social auditing, as set out in its Action Plan for Open Government in the Basque Country 2021-2024.

Ceuta and Melilla

The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, although they do not have open portals yet, have also included commitments in the plan. Ceuta is committed to launching a transparency portal and developing regulations in this area, among other issues. Melilla, for its part, has focused on training and will carry out programmes on youth participation in public management.

In short, all the administrations are working to continue promoting access to information, citizen participation and the reuse of public data.