What's new in the open data ecosystem (summer 2021)

The heat subsides, the students return to their classes and little by little we are recovering the routine. The end of summer is here, and as always when a season ends, at datos.gob.es it is time to review the news that has occurred in the open data ecosystem in recent months. We show you some examples.

The development of the Digital Agenda continues

In July the incorporation of Alberto Palomo Lozano, the new Chief Data Officer (CDO) of Spain, was announced. He will be in charge of the Data Office, dependent on the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. Its objective is to define a national strategy that responds to the main challenges of the data economy.

In addition, state projects related to the Digital Agenda of our country and the data were presented:

• The national hub of GAIA-X, promoted by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence to deploy the data economy and bet on the leadership of data spaces in strategic sectors, such as tourism and health. The presentation act was held in parallel to the opening of a interest manifestation so that industry industries had the opportunity to help define and adhere to this data sharing ecosystem.
• The Digital Bill of Rights, a set of principles and rights to guide future regulatory projects and the development of public policies, guaranteeing the rights of citizens in the digital sphere. The document establishes some provisions where the prominence of data is unquestionable.

Promotion of open government and public-private partnerships

In these months the Government of Navarra has approved its I Open Government Plan 2021-2023. Its commitments include a strategy of empowerment, interoperability and federation between open data platforms.

Public-private collaborations are also growing to promote open data. Let's look at several examples:

• The Alcobendas City Council has created a Open Data Advisory Council that brings together managers and technicians of the administration, as well as representatives of civil society. It is an advisory body that will promote the publication of new data and its use.
• The Valencian Government has renewed the collaboration with the University of Valencia to contribute to the development and operation of the PAGODA Chair of Open Government, Participation and Open Data.
• Asedie and the Generalitat de Catalunya have signed a General Action Protocol on open data to advance in the opening of databases and promote their reuse.
• The University of Huelva becomes the sixth Spanish university to join the UniversiData initiative, a project where Spanish universities collaborate with the company Dimetrical. This project offers open data linked to higher education in Spain in a homogenized way, facilitating its use and value.

Solutions based on new technologies and data

Various organizations and companies have announced innovative projects in recent months, many of them linked to the implementation of artificial intelligence technologies or advanced data analysis:

• The Open Data Barcelona Initiative presented the digital tool Dades x Comerç, designed to strengthen neighborhood commerce through the use of open data.
• Zaragoza buses will incorporate Navilens, an accessible digital system that uses the open data of the city portal. It will help blind people to locate stops and receive information in audio format about the times and incidents of the service.
• The Quart de Poblet municipality will have a App based on artificial intelligence that will show free parking spaces based on open data. This initiative will help decongest traffic and reduce CO2
• The Minsait company will manage AI Lab Granada, an artificial intelligence center to help companies gain competitiveness by promoting 'data driven' models.
• The Andalusian Public Health System implement an advanced analytics solution based on big data, with the support of Red.es. It will allow the exploitation of data from different sources to improve the quality of life of chronic patients.
• The National Geographic Information Center incorporates maps of terrain deformations with data from the Island of Tenerife from the Copernicus 'Sentinel-1' radar observation system. The goal is to monitor volcanic activity.
• Within the framework of the OpenKnowledge project, new computing algorithms to identify, capture and extract valuable information from the open data catalogs of the Valencian Community, Spain and the European Union.

Boosting reuse through competitions and contests

One way to promote reuse is through competitions aimed at entrepreneurs and companies:

• We started the summer with the final of III Challenge Contributes, aimed at promoting the use of open data as a basis for solutions that generate improvements in the education sector. On July 8 we met the winners: UniversiData-Lab, MIP Project and EducaWood they won the first, second and third prize respectively. You can watch the summary videos of the final and the awards, as well as the photos.
• At the end of spring they also met the winners of Datathon2021 from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). 'Tourist Rate Predictor', 'Management of hospital beds for covid-19 patients' and 'Ecological production' are the names of the winning projects in the 3 categories of health, agriculture and tourism.
• EduCaixaChallenge 2021 awarded the students of a public center in Pozuelo, which verified the relationship between the incidence of the pandemic and per capita income.

What's new in open data platforms

Platforms of open data have not stopped in summer either, incorporating new features. Let's look at some examples, ranging from the launch of new portals or the incorporation of new functionalities or datasets:

• The Terrasa town hall and the Consell of Ibiza they have launched new open data portals. In addition, the Burgos city council announced that it will renew the design and structure of its municipal website, with a new open data platform.
•  The GVA Oberta transparency portal presented some news related to open data, including a section on data visualizations and new datasets on education.
• At the end of June the project ended CrossForest, aimed at publishing and combining open and linked data sets of forest inventories and maps, in order to to promote models that facilitate the management and protection of forests.
• ISTAC incorporates the 'Collections' section to your portal. In it, it groups together data sets and related services by subject.
• The Junta de Castilla y León has made available to citizens geolocated job offers on the map of the Autonomous Community. The objective is improve accessibility for citizens to this content easily and quickly. They have also renewed the map viewer of its cartographic portal adding new functionalities such as the search for layers in open data or the measurement of areas or distances. It should be noted that the Board has also launched a newsletter related to open data that you can subscribe to here.

In addition, the Cantabrian Institute of Statistics (ICANE) has been incorporated into the National Open Data Catalog. From now on you can access the statistical information of the Autonomous Community in reusable formats from our portal.

It should be noted that not only public organizations open more and more data, but also private companies are jumping on the open data bandwagon. This is the case of Sanitas with space FutureHealth, destined to share knowledge, data and advances in health through new technologies.

Initiatives to boost knowledge related to data

Various organizations are also promoting data-related capabilities through various guides and courses, aimed at both publishers and reusers:

• The Generalitat de Catalunya has published the “Implementation guide for the homogenization of the metadata of the open data catalog”, With criteria and standards to unify the publication of open data in the region. Aimed at those responsible for open data in the different departments, it is also available at English.
• The Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Service of the University of Girona launched the EduSat website under the motto 'Become explorers and observe the Earth from space!'. This educational resource aims to bring remote sensing to the non-specialized public as well as offering support material to teachers, students and researchers at all educational levels.
• The 7th edition of the "Dictionary of concepts and terms of Electronic Administration" Among others, include definitions related to open data that may be of interest to you.
• Two professors from the University of Oviedo have published astudy where they collect some online graphic visualization tools for open budget data for public administrations.

Other news of interest in Europe

• At the European level, EU Datathon 2021, organized by the Publications Office and the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, announced its finalists. Among them is a Spanish team, CleanSpot, with a solution to promote awareness and encouragement of recycling through gamification. The winners will be known on November 25, 2021, within the framework of the EU Open Data Days, the first Open Data Days of the European Union, which can be followed online.

• The European Molecular Biology Laboratory published data on 20,000 proteins, thanks to the use of Artificial Intelligence. The database is freely accessible.
• NASA and ESA have formed a strategic partnership to observe the Earth and climate change. One of its objectives is to collaborate in an open data policy that promotes the exchange of information in the scientific community and for the general public.

All these examples - which are just a sample - prove that we are facing a solid ecosystem of open data that does not rest even in summer. We will see what autumn brings us, a season that will come loaded with new events, such as the Esri Spain conference , the International Congress on open data and reuse of public sector information, the VI International Congress on Transparency, or those already mentioned EU Open Data Days, among others.

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