reutilización

Minerva is  Viladecans City Council's smart city platform designed to integrate, unify and exploit urban data in real time, combining information from municipal sensors, corporate databases and external public and private sources. Developed on a cloud architecture under a SaaS model  , it allows heterogeneous data to be centralised and transformed into structured, interoperable and accessible information.

Through interactive panels, dynamic maps and geovisors (based on Esri ArcGIS Enterprise technology), the platform facilitates sectorized visualization by areas such as mobility, air quality, energy efficiency, maintenance of public space or citizen safety. 

One of the most relevant aspects is the integration and reuse of open data. Minerva not only consumes public data from other administrations (such as traffic, weather or transport), but also publishes much of the information generated on the Viladecans 360 portal. 

In this way, Minerva not only acts as an internal tool for municipal management, but also as an urban data ecosystem that promotes innovation, participation and evidence-based decision-making, strengthening a more efficient, sustainable and open city model.

Iternova is a technology company specializing in the development of digital solutions for smart infrastructure management.

Its flagship product, the SmartRoads Web-Based Road Management System, is a platform used by numerous public agencies, construction companies, and concessionaires to centralize the comprehensive management of road network maintenance and operations in a single platform.

Iternova specializes in the integration and utilization of public and private data to improve road safety, maintenance planning, and the efficient management of assets and infrastructure.

Just a few months after the success of its first award, the Madrid City Council has opened the call for the second edition of the Open Data Reuse Awards. It is an initiative that seeks to recognize and promote innovative projects that use the datasets published on the datos.madrid.es portal. With a total endowment of 15,000 euros, these awards consolidate the municipal commitment to data culture, transparency and the creation of social and economic value from public information.

In this article we tell you some of the keys you must take into account to participate.

Two award categories to consider

The call establishes two categories, each with several prizes:

1) Web services, applications and visualizations: rewards projects that generate services, visualizations or web or mobile applications.

• First prize: €4,000
• Second prize: €3,000
• Third prize: €1,500
• Student prize: €1,500

2) Studies, research and ideas: focuses on research projects, analysis or description of ideas to create services, studies, visualizations, web or mobile applications. This category is also open to university end-of-degree and end-of-master's projects (TFG-TFM).

• First prize: €2,500
• Second prize: €1,500
• Third prize: €1,000
• Projects already awarded, subsidized or contracted by the Madrid City Council.
• Projects that do not use any datasets from the municipal portal.

In both categories, it is necessary that at least one set of data from the municipal portal is used, and can be combined with public or private sources from any territorial area. Projects can be recent or have been completed in the two years prior to the closing of the call.

Awards may be declared void if the minimum quality is not reached. In this case, the remaining amounts will be redistributed proportionally among the rest of the winners.

Requirements to participate

The call is open to natural and legal persons who are the authors of the projects or initiatives. The aim is for any person or entity with an interest in the reuse of data to be able to submit their proposal, regardless of their technical level. Therefore, both professionals and companies, researchers, journalists and developers, as well as amateurs and amateurs interested in data analysis and visualization can participate.

In the case of the student prize, only those individuals enrolled in official courses 2023/24, 2024/25 or 2025/26 may participate.

On the other hand, the following are excluded from all categories:

Process Phases

The municipal portal details the phases of the call, which include:

1. Publication of the call.  On March 3,  the regulatory bases were published in the Official Gazette of the Madrid City Council.
2. Submission of nominations. The deadline for submitting applications is from March 4 to May 4 (both included). They can be submitted online or in person, as explained below.

3. Analysis and correction. Until June 3, the review of the documentation submitted will be carried out. If necessary, applicants will be contacted to correct errors.

4. Assessment and deliberation. A jury will evaluate all the admitted projects, according to the criteria established in the rules of the call. Their usefulness, economic value, social value and contribution to transparency will be taken into account; their degree of innovation and creativity; the variety of datasets used from the Madrid Open Data Portal; and its technical quality. This phase will run until September 15.

5. Resolution. In the months of September and October , the proposal for the granting and official publication of the resolution will be carried out.

6. Awards ceremony. The awards will be presented at a public event, estimated for the month of November.

The official website will update dates and documentation as the process progresses.

How applications are submitted

As mentioned above, applications can be submitted electronically or in person:

• Online, through the electronic headquarters of the Madrid City Council. Identification and electronic signature are required for this.
• In person, at the registration assistance offices of the Madrid City Council, as well as at the registries of other public administrations.

Individuals may submit the application in both ways, while legal persons may only submit the application electronically.

In both cases, nominations must include:

• Official application form, to be downloaded from the Madrid City Council's electronic headquarters.
• Project report, based on a model to be downloaded from the aforementioned electronic office.  This document will include the title, authorship and a detailed description, as well as the list of datasets used, the objectives, the target audience, the expected impact, the degree of innovation and the technology used.
• Responsible declaration.
• Collaboration agreement, in the case of presenting itself as a group.

Get inspired by the winning projects of the first edition

The second edition of the Open Data Reuse Awards comes on the heels of the success of the previous edition. In 2025, the Madrid City Council held the first edition of these awards, which brought together 65 nominations of great quality and diversity. Among them, proposals promoted by university students, startups, multidisciplinary teams and citizens committed to  the intelligent use of public data stood out.

The award-winning projects demonstrated that open data can become real tools to improve urban life, boost transparency and generate useful knowledge for the city. In this article we summarize what these projects consisted of.

In summary, the II Open Data Reuse Awards 2026 are an opportunity to demonstrate how public data can be turned into real innovation. An invitation to develop projects that promote a smarter, more transparent and participatory Madrid.

The "Public Sector Data Re-User´s Decalogue" (2025 edition), offers an updated guide to facilitate the access, reuse and enhancement of public sector information in the current context marked by the data economy, artificial intelligence and new European regulatory frameworks. It maintains its practical vocation, aimed at facilitating the effective reuse of public sector information by citizens, companies and administrations, but also incorporating the profound technological, regulatory and organisational changes that have taken place in the last decade.

Who it is for?

This Decalogue is aimed at a wide and diverse audience that participates, in one way or another, in the public data ecosystem. It is especially useful for public administration professionals responsible for the publication, management and governance of data; for companies, entrepreneurs and organizations that develop services, products or research based on information from the public sector; and for citizens interested in better understanding how to access, interpret and reuse these resources.

What does the guide include?

The main objective of this document is to offer a functional vision on how to leverage the value of public data in a secure, interoperable and responsible way. To do this, it clearly and concisely explains what open data is, how to interpret and apply reuse licenses, where to find datasets, and what factors influence their quality, interoperability, and persistence over time. It also incorporates an updated look at the role of metadata, standards and data governance as key elements to ensure reuse at scale and in increasingly complex contexts.

Likewise, the Decalogue presents us with the wide range of processing, analysis and visualization tools and introduces us to the need for continuous training and experimentation, in line with European priorities in digital skills and data science. In addition, it addresses the new challenges and opportunities arising from the use of data in artificial intelligence systems, placing special emphasis on its connection with the social and economic value of data and the need for ethical and responsible use through traceability, transparency and risk mitigation.

Overall, this guide is consolidated as an up-to-date and useful reference to promote a responsible, sustainable use and generator of social and economic value of public sector data.

If you want to go deeper…

For those who want to move towards more specialized levels of analytics, data science, and artificial intelligence, this guide is complemented by the Data Scientist's Decalogue, which offers a roadmap for developing high-value technical and analytical skills and continuing to deepen the best practices needed in today's data ecosystem.

You can download the report and the executive summary below.

The adoption of the new DCAT-AP-ES profile aligns Spain with the application profile in Europe (DCAT-AP), facilitating automatic federation between data catalogs defined in RDF (Resource Description Framework).

In this RDF graph environment where flexibility is the norm, the absence of traditional rigid schemas can lead to a silent degradation of data quality, if the standard is not rigorously followed. To mitigate this risk, there is SHACL (Shapes Constraint Language), a recommendation of the W3C. These guidelines make it possible to define "shapes" that function as true guardians of quality and compliance with interoperability. 

The stages of the SHACL validation process are as follows: 

1. An RDF data graph is available
2. A subset from the previous graph is selected
3. The SHACL constraints that apply to the previous subgraph are checked
4. A validation report is obtained with the compliant elements, with errors or with recommendations.

The following figure shows these stages:

Figure 1: Main stages of the SHACL validation process 

Objectives and target audience

This technical guide aims to help publishers and reusers incorporate SHACL validation as a continuous quality improvement practice, through a didactic and accessible approach, inspired by clear resources and open validation tools from the data ecosystem.

In addition, its relationship with DCAT-AP-ES is deepened in a special way, detailing a practical and exhaustive case of the complete workflow of validation and governance of a catalog according to this profile.

Structure and contents

The document follows a progressive approach, starting from theoretical foundations to technical implementation and automatic integration, structured in the following key blocks:

• Fundamentals of semantic validation: RDF and the challenge of the “open world, as well as SHACL as a mechanism to perform validations, defining key concepts such as Shape or Validation Report.
• DCAT-AP-ES and the adoption of SHACL for validation:  the SHACL forms defined in DCAT-AP-ES and the case of their application in the federation process of the National Catalogue are explained.
• Case Study: RDF Graph Validation: A step-by-step tutorial on how to validate a catalog with DCAT-AP-ES SHACL forms, troubleshooting common issues, and available tools.
• Conclusions: Reflections on the advantages of integrating SHACL validation to improve data catalog governance.

SHACL validation represents a paradigm shift in metadata quality management in data catalogs. This guide walks through the entire process from theoretical foundations to practical application, demonstrating that the adoption of SHACL is not simply a technical requirement, but an opportunity to strengthen and improve data governance.

SUBSIDIA ONERIS (Latin for “burden of subsidies”) is a library of applets that enable mass access to data from the National Subsidies Database portal directly from Excel, using PowerQuery ETL to access the official SNPSAP API. It is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Its use requires only very basic knowledge of Excel. The available applets are as follows:

• De minimis Inspector 2.0: By entering one or multiple tax identification numbers (NIF) of beneficiaries, it returns all de minimis grants existing on the Portal on the date the query is performed, granted over the previous three years, providing transactional information on these grants as well as various aggregates and reports. Useful for checking compliance with the three-year de minimis accumulation requirements per beneficiary established in the applicable European regulations.

• State Aid (AdE) Inspector 2.1: By entering one or multiple beneficiary NIFs, it returns all State Aid grants existing on the Portal on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information on these grants as well as various aggregates and reports.

• All Grants Inspector 2.0: By entering one or multiple beneficiary NIFs, it returns all grants existing in the “All” tab of the Portal on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information on these grants as well as various aggregates and reports.

• Grants by Date Query Tool (more than 10,000) 2.1: By entering a start and end date, it returns all grants existing in the “Grants – All” tab of the Portal for the reference period on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information as well as various aggregates and reports. Time intervals should preferably not exceed one month, as the large number of grants may cause the download to fail, depending on the memory resources of the computer running Excel and the transactional load on the servers.

• Grants by Call for Proposals Query Tool (more than 10,000) 2.1: For calls for proposals that have more than 10,000 grants, this tool allows downloading all of them, up to 1,000,000 grants. Only one call code can be specified.

• State Aid by Date Query Tool (more than 10,000) 2.1: By entering a start and end date, it returns all grants existing in the “State Aid” tab of the Portal for the reference period on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information as well as various aggregates and reports. Time intervals should preferably not exceed one year, as the large number of grants may cause the download to fail, depending on the memory resources of the computer running Excel and the transactional load on the servers.

• De minimis by Date Query Tool (more than 10,000) 2.1: By entering a start and end date, it returns all grants existing in the de minimis tab of the Portal for the reference period on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information as well as various aggregates and reports. Time intervals should preferably not exceed one year, as the large number of grants may cause the download to fail, depending on the memory resources of the computer running Excel and the transactional load on the servers.

• Multi-SA State Aid Query Tool (less than 10,000) 2.0: By entering one or multiple references to State Aid measures (SA.number), it returns all State Aid grants existing on the Portal on the date the query is performed for those measures, providing transactional information as well as various aggregates and reports. If any measure (SA.number) has more than 10,000 grants, only the first 10,000 are downloaded, so it should not be used in that case. If an SA has more than 10,000 grants, the Multi-code Grants by Call Query Tool can be used instead. To do so, you must first identify the calls for proposals that have been formalized for that SA measure.

• Multi-code Grants by Call Query Tool (less than 10,000) 2.1: By entering one or multiple BDNS call codes, it returns all grants for those calls existing on the Portal on the date the query is performed, providing transactional information as well as various aggregates and reports.

If any call has more than 10,000 grants, it only downloads the first 10,000, so it should not be … (text truncated in the original).

Web platform for filtering and organizing proposals from the Congress of Deputies according to party votes, with the ability to show how one or more parties voted collectively or individually.

As proposals may have several votes, the main vote for each proposal is extracted using a ChatGPT AI model. AI is also used to extract information on the different points of a proposal and generate an explanatory description of the proposal that is understandable to anyone.

The aim is to have a platform where the activity of the Congress of Deputies can be seen clearly and simply.

Open SDG Index is a platform for managing and visualising results and progress in the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. It allows reporting and systematizing the progress and effort made by public and private entities to meet the SDGs. On the one hand, it facilitates the self-evaluation of this progress and, on the other, it makes the results known to the general public. It is part of the SDG system and allows any entity to incorporate and update its profile. 

The portal includes advanced searches, sectoral and territorial filters and organisation profiles for open consultation. The information is verified by independent agents and presented geolocalized to facilitate comparison between organizations and territories.

For the deployment of the Open SDG Index, a proprietary methodology has been developed in collaboration with the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). The project won the First Prize for Social Entrepreneurship "La Noria" from the Diputación de Málaga in 2020.

The reuse of open data makes it possible to generate innovative solutions that improve people's lives, boost citizen participation and strengthen public transparency. Proof of this are the competitions promoted this year by the Junta de Castilla y León and the Madrid City Council.

Being the IX edition of the Castilla y León Competition and the first edition of the Madrid Competition, both administrations have presented the prizes to the selected projects, recognising both students and startups as well as professionals and researchers who have been able to transform public data into useful tools and knowledge. In this post, we review the award-winning projects in each competition and the context that drives them.

Castilla y León: ninth edition of consolidated awards in a more open administration

At the awards ceremony of the IX Open Data Contest of the Junta de Castilla y León,  the budget reinforcement (+65%) in the General Directorate of Transparency and Good Governance, the expansion of active advertising content and a continuous improvement of the right of access to public information, which has reduced requests and rejection resolutions, were highlighted. The Open Data Portal of Castilla y León has 776 datasets that allow the development of services, applications and studies each year.

The Open Data Awards recognize initiatives in four categories: Ideas, Products and Services, Teaching Resources, Data Journalism.

Ideas

• First prize: CyL Rural Hub. Proposal to develop a comprehensive platform for the rural territory that centralises services, infrastructures, job opportunities and educational offer. Its objective is to provide families and professionals with useful information to plan a life project in the villages of the community.

• Second prize: Cultural App of Castilla y León. An idea aimed at boosting cultural activity through an application that centralises events, activities and locations, also offering an intuitive and close experience based on open data.

Products & Services

• First prize: CyL Bridge. Application designed to support the integration of migrants through personalized routes, an artificial intelligence assistant and a resource center powered by public data.

• Second prize: MuniCyL. A tool that brings together dispersed municipal information and presents it on a single clear, accessible and up-to-date platform.

• Third prize: Interactive map of Natural Spaces. A resource that allows citizens to explore the protected areas of the territory dynamically and in real time.

• Student awards: Info Salamanca. Platform that offers interactive maps, thematic filters and a conversational assistant to bring provincial information closer and facilitate the consultation of citizen data.

Teaching Resource

• First prize: Use of open data from the Junta de Castilla y León in web development. A project that introduces open data into the learning of web development, with practical exercises and an AI search engine to work directly with real data from the portal.

Data Journalism

• First prize: Heart attacks are no longer a matter of age, a report on the increase in heart attacks among young people.

• Second prize: Burgos maintains regional leadership with 79 wind farms: an analysis of the deployment of renewable energies in the region.

Madrid: first edition of awards that promote reuse in the urban environment

On the other hand, the Madrid City Council has held the first edition of the Open Data Reuse Awards 2025. The ceremony highlighted the quality and diversity of the 65 applications submitted, many of them driven by university students and startups.

The awards seek to promote the use of data  from the Madrid City Council's Open Data Portal, support the creation of services and studies that contribute to knowledge of the city and reinforce the role of the city council as a benchmark administration in transparency and accountability.

In this case, the awards are structured into four categories: Web Services and Applications, Visualizations, Studies and Ideas, and Portal Improvement.

Web Services & Applications

• First prize: Madriwa. Find your place in Madrid. A tool that facilitates the search for housing through data on neighbourhoods, services and prices, allowing an informed and simplified comparison.

• Second prize: The guardians of the air. Application developed by Tangible Data to check the city's air quality, especially designed to raise awareness among young people and educational centers.

Data viz

• First prize: Ramp. Routes for people with reduced mobility. It presents accessible itineraries based on geospatial and orography data, offering alternative routes adapted to people with reduced mobility.

• Second prize: AccesibiliMad. It shows public services available in each urban environment, with special attention to the specific needs of different groups.

Studies, Research and Ideas

• First prize: Fifteen-minute cities for children. Analysis of the availability of essential services for minors within a maximum radius of 15 minutes, providing an innovative vision of urban planning.

• Second prize: The impact of tourism in urban areas. This study delves into the relationship between tourist housing, the commercial fabric and labour dynamics, using urban and socio-economic data.

Improving Portal Quality

• First prize: Your Open Data. Improving harvesting in data.europa.eu. Proposal that improves the way data is provided, raising the quality of metadata and boosting European interoperability.

• Second prize: Discovery, observability and intelligent governance of open data. Solution that introduces an automated layer of intelligence and control over the municipal catalog.

Both Castilla y León, with a consolidated track record, and the Madrid City Council, which inaugurates its own recognition, contribute decisively to strengthening the Spanish open data ecosystem. Its calls are an example of how collaboration between administrations, citizens, academia and the private sector can transform public data into knowledge, participation and innovation at the service of society as a whole.

embalses.info is a web platform that provides up-to-date information on the status of Spain’s reservoirs and dams. The application offers real-time hydrological data with weekly updates, allowing citizens, researchers, and public managers to consult water levels, capacities, and historical trends for more than 400 reservoirs organized into 16 river basins.

The application includes an interactive dashboard showing the overall status of Spanish reservoirs, an interactive (coming soon) basin map with filling levels, and detailed pages for each reservoir with weekly trend charts, comparisons with previous years, and historical records dating back to the 1980s. It features a powerful search engine, data analysis with interactive charts, and a contact form for suggestions.

From a technical standpoint, the platform uses Next.js 14+ with TypeScript on the frontend, Prisma ORM for data access, and PostgreSQL/SQL Server as the database. It is SEO-optimized with a dynamic XML sitemap, optimized meta tags, structured data, and friendly URLs. The site is fully responsive, accessible, and includes automatic light/dark mode.

The public value of the application lies in providing transparency and accessible information on Spain’s water resources, enabling farmers, public administrations, researchers, and the media to make informed decisions based on reliable and up-to-date data.