THE BEST OF 2015

European Public Sector Information Platform

Topic Report No. 2016/02

The Best of 2015

Author: Luis Meijueiro

Published: February 2016

ePSIplatform Topic Report No. 2016/02 , February 2016

THE BEST OF 2015

Table of Contents
Keywords: .................................................................................................................................. 3
Abstract/ Executive Summary: .................................................................................................. 3
1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 4

News in Europe ....................................................................................................................... 5

2.1

Promotion of a data-driven economy across Europe ...................................................... 5

2.2

Monitoring and Analysis of the PSI re-use ....................................................................... 7

2.3

PSI & Open Data in the EU Member States ..................................................................... 9

2.4

Other EU regional, local PSI & Open Data activities ...................................................... 12

Open Data highlights............................................................................................................. 15

3.1

The view of ePSI Platform correspondents .................................................................... 15

ePSI Platform: year in review ................................................................................................ 19

4.1

ePSI Platform in action! ................................................................................................. 19

4.2

An assortment of PSI & Open Data related projects ...................................................... 21

About the Author .................................................................................................................... 23

Copyright information ............................................................................................................. 23

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THE BEST OF 2015

Keywords:
year; compilation; review; 2015; happenings; events; Europe; summary

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This document is a brief review of the highlights of the year regarding Open Data and PSI re-use
in Europe. You will find a compilation of the most relevant information gathered by our team
of experts in the platform, and structured by geographical coverage.

ePSIplatform Topic Report No. 2016/02 , February 2016

THE BEST OF 2015

1 Introduction
This document is a brief review of the highlights of the year regarding Open Data and PSI re-use
in Europe. You will find a compilation of the most relevant information gathered by our team
of experts in the platform, and structured by geographical coverage. Some important
milestones are listed such as the launch of the beta version of the European Data Portal by the
European Commission, as well as a new study about the Open Data Maturity status of the
EU28+ countries.
You can navigate through a selection of remarkable general news and events, and also check
what was hot within the platform in every month of 2015.
References to all the documents and news can be found after the corresponding sections of the
document.

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2 News in Europe
2.1 Promotion of a data-driven economy across Europe
During the first quarter of 2015, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published the first
public working draft1 of its Data on the Web Best Practices to facilitate interaction between
publishers and consumers; and the winners2 of the Apps For Europe Competition were
announced.
In the second quarter: the FINODEX project launched its 2nd call for funding requests3 for
Open Data projects; Luxemburg hosted the 20th meeting4 of the Public Sector Information
Group and of the 6th meeting of the Working Group on the pan-EU Open Data portal;
Europeana called on institutions5 to share higher quality material; a new updated edition6 of
the Open Data Handbook was made available; and the Open Data Incubator Europe (ODInE)
began accepting funding applications7 from start-ups and SMEs for open data business ideas.

Open Data Incubator Europe portal (Source: opendataincubator.eu - ODINE consortium / CC-BY 4.0)

In July, the finalists8 for the second edition of the Open Data Awards, promoted by the Open
Data Institute, were announced, and five of them9 managed to win in their category. The same
month the ISA Programme of the European Commission started an activity to review and
revise10 the DCAT Application Profile for Data Portals in Europe. Also, in July the EULife
AppChallenge for the development of apps11 that reuse new Open Data related to quality of
life was launched. The month ended with the announcement of a new joint UK-France Data
Taskforce to boost cooperation12 on Open Data.
The third quarter of the year ended with the selection of the first seven businesses13 for the
Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODINE) program; in France Etalab launched14 the 6th edition
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of Dataconnexions contest that rewards reuse of public data; the European Commission
started 17 infringement cases for late transposition of 2013 PSI Directive15; the International
Open Data Charter was officially launched16; and the Open Data Mashup Challenge called all
UK Universities seeking ideas for apps17 that improve university students' learning journey.
Finally in October the European Commission and the United States signed cooperation
arrangement18 on Copernicus Earth Observation data; Swedens innovation agency VINNOVA
launched call for improving Open Data sources19 using DCAT-AP; in November the beta version
of the European Data Portal20 was released during the European Data Forum in Luxembourg,
while EU Member States endorsed21 DCAT Application Profile for Data Portals in Europe
(DCAT-AP) version 1.1; and in December, the European Commission launched an online
survey22 on topics with a direct impact on the future of the EU's actions in the field of the data
economy.

European Data Portal (Source: www.europeandataportal.eu - European Union)

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/w3c-publishes-best-practices-publishing-data-web

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/winners-apps-europe-2015-competition-announced

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/finodex-project-launches-its-2nd-call-funding-requests-open-data-projects

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/20th-meeting-psi-group-%E2%80%93-minutes-now-available

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/europeana-calls-institutions-share-higher-quality-material

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http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/new-updated-edition-open-data-handbook

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/sme-and-start-funding-open-data-business-ideas

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-award-2015-winners-announced

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/summary-odi-open-data-awards

10

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/revision-dcat-application-profile-data-portals-europe

11

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/eulife-appchallenge-help-us-understand-europe-we-live

12

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/unveiled-new-joint-uk-france-data-taskforce-boost-cooperation-open-data

13

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/first-winners-odine-programme

14

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/6th-edition-dataconnexions-contest-announced

15

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/european-commission-starts-17-infringement-cases-late-transposition2013-psi-directive

16

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/international-open-data-charter-officially-launched

17

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-challenge-all-uk-universities

18

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/eu-and-usa-sign-cooperation-arrangement-copernicus-earth-observationdata

19

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/vinnova-launches-call-improving-open-data-sources-using-dcat-ap

20

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/european-data-portal-opening-europe%E2%80%99s-public-data

21

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/dcat-ap-v11-endorsed-isa-committee-1

22

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/help-impact-future-eus-data-economy-0

2.2 Monitoring and Analysis of the PSI re-use

At the beginning of the year the LAPSI project released a set of eight Policy
Recommendations 23 for policy makers to better understand the PSI Directive; in the
Netherlands a report presenting a study24 into the perceptions of Open Data was launched;
and the Agency for Digital Italy published a report25 based on a public consultation held to
identify useful datasets for their future release as Open Data.
During the second quarter of 2015 a test26 by the Open State Foundation revealed that the
Dutch government Open Data Portal was still struggling with broken links; the Open Data
Institute (ODI) launched a self-assessment tool27 to help assess how well an organisation
publishes and consumes open data; a report28 revealed that administrative silence rates for
Spanish FOI requests was still a major barrier; and four country reports29 on the Impact of
Open Data in the fight against corruption relating to Italy, Spain, and UK were presented under
the TACOD project.
By mid-year a new Data Index of both open and closed transport datasets30 was launched in UK
to address the problems surrounding transport data discovery and its uneven availability; the
Open Data 200 study to map the re-use31 of Open Data in Italy was launched. In August, we
had the launch of a prototype map32 of Open Data availability in UK local authorities, and the
third quarter ended with the release of a report33 on the issue of open budget data.
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In November, an Open Data Challenge Series (ODCS) Impact Report reviewed34 the revenue,
beneficiary and impact projections provided by the finalists and winners; and the Innovation
and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) launched a new CEF Telecom call for proposals35 in
several areas including Public Open Data.
The year began to slip away when we learn from a new study36 about the Open Data Maturity
status of the EU28+ countries, published as part of the European Data Portal project.

Cover and sample page of Open Data Maturity in Europe 2015 study
(Source: europeandataportal.eu/en/content/open-data-maturity-europe European)

Finally the year ended up with the 2015 edition37 of the Global Open Data Index, including an
additional insights page.

23

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/lapsi-project-releases-policy-recommendations

24

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/research-perceptions-open-data-netherlands

25

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/identifying-useful-open-datasets-italy-report-published

26

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/dutch-government-open-data-portal-still-struggling-broken-links

27

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/odi-launches-new-tool-assess-open-data-capabilities

28

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/administrative-silence-rates-spanish-foi-requests-still-major-barrier-despitedrop

29

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/tacod-project-country-reports-now-available-comment

30

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/imdata-intelligent-mobility-data-index

31

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/opendata200-new-study-map-re-use-open-data-italy

32

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/uk-local-open-data-availability-map

33

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/new-report-issue-open-budget-data

34

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-challenge-series-impact-report

35

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/cef-telecom-launches-2015-call-proposals

36

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/report-open-data-maturity-europe-2015-0

37

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/2015-edition-global-open-data-index-0

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2.3 PSI & Open Data in the EU Member States

The year began with the Slovak Republic publishing the registry of the accounts38 of all the
legal entities; in the Netherlands the Dutch Air Traffic Control (LVNL) started with the regular
publication of concrete safety-related incidents39; in France Caisse des Dpts launched a call
for projects40 to improve the openness and sharing of public data by governmental agencies
and ministries; and in Spain AENOR, the Spanish Association of Standardization and
Certification, issued the first standard with a set of requirements41 for opening and reusing PSI
in the field of Smart Cities. Also in Spain and around these dates a Public Private Partnership
Forum on PSI Re-use42 was held to progress on the realization of economic and social benefits
of open data. The month ended in the United Kingdom with the National Health System (NHS)
re-launching the postponed Care.data initiative43.
In February: the Government of the Netherlands revealed an upgrade of its open data portal44
with new features and extensions; in France the National Assembly adopted an amendment45
that required transport companies to provide their data about timetables and routes as Open
Data; in Germany the Federal Government held a workshop46 with the civic society as part of
the implementation of the G8 Open Data Charter, while the Federal Cabinet drafted a changed
version of the Law47 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information.

The Dutch National Data portal (Source: data.overheid.nl - CC-BY 4.0)

The first quarter of 2015 ended with the adoption in France of a Public Health draft bill48 that
included a chapter on open access to health data; in the United Kingdom, the Environment
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Agency released a new set of flood data APIs49, the Ordnance Survey launched new location,
roads, rivers and map50 OpenData products, the UK Government appointed its first ever Chief
Data Officer51, and new transparency rules52 for public sector contracts were set out. Around
these dates in Germany the Government and the tech NGO Initiative D21 started a public
participation process53 on the use of Open Government Data; and in Finland the Patent and
Registration Office (NBPR) opened a new web service54 for Open Data.
In March a new national Open Data portal55 was unveiled in Croatia, and the mapping,
cadastral and land registration authority of Sweden announced the release of its small-scale
map information56 as open data. At the end of the month the Netherlands Court of Audit
published a new Open Data Trend Report57.
In the second quarter of the year: Bulgaria launched its National Open Data Portal58, France
launched a portal to give access to the information, data and tools linked with the National
Address Database59; Spain approved a draft law60 that transposed the revised PSI Directive; and
Norway approved to establish a central registry61 of company beneficial ownership information
to boost company transparency.

French National Address Database portal (Source: adresse.data.gouv.fr - SGMAP)

In June, SNCF, the French mobility group, launched an improved API62 to access all TGV, TER,
Transilien, and Intercits train data in France; a public consultation63 on Government Open
Data strategy and Data Portal was launched in Ireland; and in the United Kingdom the
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) announced the future release of
open satellite imagery64 that could transform food and farming.

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In the third quarter of 2015: hundreds of new publicly available datasets65 were discovered
after Dutch government-wide inventory, in the Netherlands; the Federal Government of
Belgium approved an Open Data strategy66 with concrete actions up until 2020; and in the
Netherlands the Dutch public broadcaster (NPO) launched a challenge 67 to develop
applications that reused NPO open data. The quarter ended with France opening a Public
Consultation68 on Digital Republic bill, a legislative proposal with impact on more open data
and knowledge dissemination.
In France the Government launched in October the Le.TAXI Open Data platform69 to foster
innovation in French taxi services, and around these dates 20 years of crime statistics70 were
released as Open Data in the French national data portal. The month ended with the launch of
a new Open Data portal in Belgium run by the main statistical authority in charge of the
(official) national statistics71.
The year ended with the news that the Netherlands increased the number of Open Datasets72
and laid out a National Open Data Agenda for 2016.
Note. All the information related to the Czech Republic, Romania, and Italy can be found in
another section later in this document.
38

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/registry-companies-accounts-slovakia-0

39

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/dutch-air-traffic-control-publish-safety-performance-information

40

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/french-government-invest-%E2%82%AC25m-open-data

41

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/spain-issues-standard-open-data-smart-cities

42

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/working-session-spanish-public-private-partnership-forum-psi-reuse

43

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/uk-re-launches-its-controversial-nhss-caredata-initiative

44

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/upgrade-dutch-government-open-data-portal

45

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/france-opens-public-transport-data

46

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/german-action-plan-open-data-report-milestone-workshop

47

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/german-federal-cabinet-drafts-law-psi-re-use

48

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/public-health-draft-bill-sets-open-access-french-health-data

49

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/uk-environment-agency-launches-real-time-flood-monitoring-api

50

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/ordnance-survey-launches-new-location-roads-rivers-and-map-opendataproducts

51

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/uk-government-appoints-its-first-ever-chief-data-officer

52

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/new-transparency-rules-public-sector-contracts-uk

53

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-government-data-online-idea-collection-started

54

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/finnish-patent-and-registration-office-publishes-open-data

55

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/croatian-government-unveils-national-open-data-portal

56

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/swedish-land-registration-authority-plans-open-map-information-free

57

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/netherlands-court-audit-publishes-new-open-data-trend-report-2015

58

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/bulgaria-finally-launches-national-open-data-portal

59

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/france-launches-its-national-address-database

60

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/spain-approves-draft-law-transposes-revised-psi-directive

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61

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/norway-approves-public-register-boost-company-transparency

62

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/sncf-launches-api-access-all-train-data

63

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/irish-govt-launches-public-consultation-its-open-data-strategy-and-dataportal

64

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/defra-release-open-satellite-imagery-could-transform-food-and-farming

65

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/hundreds-datasets-released-after-dutch-government-wide-inventory

66

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/belgian-federal-open-data-strategy-approved

67

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/dutch-public-broadcaster-npo-launches-app-competition

68

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/france-opens-public-consultation-digital-republic-bill

69

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/letaxi-platform-launched-open-data-foster-innovation-french-taxi-services

70

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/france-releases-20-years-crime-statistics-open-data

71

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/statistics-belgium-launches-open-data-portal

72

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/netherlands-increases-number-open-datasets-and-lays-out-national-opendata-agenda-2016

2.4 Other EU regional, local PSI & Open Data activities

The year started with La Palma Island Council in Spain launching its Open Data portal73, and
the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions released a new version of
its solution for publishing74 Linked municipal key figures. In March the Italian municipality of
Lecce launched an Open Data contest75 for visualisations and apps reusing datasets from the
local data portal, while the Piemonte region opened up its Topographic database76.
Northern Ireland unveiled an Open Data Strategy77 for the 2015-18 years with the aim to foster
an open by culture among all the public.
In March the City of Berlin made available to the public as Open Data a new 3D city model78 of
the German capital, while North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's biggest Federal state, launched
a portal for Open Data79 and participation.

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Berlin 3D Download Portal

(Source: www.businesslocationcenter.de/en/downloadportal- Business Location Center)

At the end of March Reading Borough Council in the United Kingdom opened-up real time
transport data80, while the City of York Council launched its Open Data platform81. The Dutch
City of Almere started an Open Data pilot82 by making nine selected datasets available.
The German City of Cologne made its software solution83 for publishing open data available to
the public, and the French region of Grand Poitiers opened its first public datasets84.
In April the Catalan regional government approved a project to open up85 as much information
as possible from the regional public health system. In May the German city of
Mnchengladbach launched its Open Data Portal86.
In June the Spanish Regional Government of La Rioja launched its first Open Data contest87. On
the next month the Scottish Parliament launched a new Open Data portal88, and the City of
Bolzano (South Tyrol, Italy) tested a bus passenger information89 system based on Open Data.
In September: the Helsinki Smart City App competition90 was launched; the Emilia-Romagna
region in Italy launched Open Data Monuments catalogue91 with over 7000 images.

Emilia Romagna in Creative Commons portal

(Source: www.cittadarte.emilia-romagna.it/catalogo-foto-CC - Udp Citt d'arte dell'Emilia Romagna CC-BY)

On the next month the French City of Rennes hosted its annual Open Data Week92; and the
Regional Government of the Basque Country in Spain launched an Open Data competition93.
In November: transport companies operating in le-de-France (STIF) launched Open Data
portal94; the German city of Mlheim an der Ruhr launched its Open Data portal95; and the
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Northern Ireland Open Data portal96 was officially launched.

73

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/la-palma-island-council-launches-its-open-data-portal-0

74

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/skls-%C3%B6ppna-data-publish-swedish-local-data

75

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/lecce-launches-open-data-contest

76

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/piemonte-region-opens-topographic-database

77

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/northern-ireland-unveils-its-open-data-strategy

78

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/new-berlin-3d-city-model-available-open-data

79

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/north-rhine-westphalia-launches-portal-open-data-and-participation

80

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/reading-borough-council-opens-real-time-transport-data

81

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/city-york-launches-open-data-platform

82

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/city-almere-starts-open-data-pilot

83

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/cologne-publishes-its-open-data-software

84

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/grand-poitiers-releases-its-first-public-open-datasets

85

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/catalan-regional-government-open-health-data

86

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/german-city-m%C3%B6nchengladbach-launches-its-open-data-portal

87

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/spanish-regional-government-la-rioja-launches-its-first-open-data-contest

88

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/scottish-parliament-launches-new-open-data-portal

89

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/bolzano-tests-their-bus-passenger-information-system-based-open-data

90

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/helsinki-smart-city-app-competition

91

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-monuments-launched-over-7000-images-emilia-romagna-region

92

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-week-seeking-european-open-data-scale

93

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/regional-government-basque-country-launches-open-data-competition

94

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/transport-companies-operating-%C3%AEle-de-france-stif-launch-open-dataportal

95

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/german-city-m%C3%BClheim-der-ruhr-launches-open-data-portal

96

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/northern-ireland-open-data-portal-officially-launched

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3 Open Data highlights

3.1 The view of ePSI Platform correspondents
Here we compile the views of some members of our correspondents team that had the time
to collaborate for this section. They are experts who make PSI re-use move forward in Europe.

Michal Kuban
(ePSI Platform correspondent for the Czech Republic97)
To sum up, 2015 was a very successful year for PSI and Open Data activities in the Czech
Republic. The National Open Data Catalogue was launched, as also was the Open Data portal98
of the City of Prague. The set of standards and guidelines for publication and cataloguing99
open data were prepared, and the Ministry of Interior started training100 civil servants.
27 applications were submitted to the Czech Open Data Challenge. The overall winner of the
competition101 was the Supervisor app, built by the Ministry of Finance using its own open
data. More Czech institutions opened up their data, like the Parliament of the Czech Republic
that opened up102 their sessions and agenda, or the Social Security Administration that
provided Open Data on pensions103 & social benefits.
The biggest hackathon to date in the Czech Republic, Praguehacks, brought 13 applications104
that raised awareness about open data and PSI among developers, entrepreneurs, and hackers.

Prague Hacks portal (Source: www.praguehacks.cz - Fond Otakara Motejla reSITE Startup Yard)

The next challenge is implementing Open Data into Czech legislation, prioritizing the basic
datasets that should be mandatorily published. And to establish a frequent dialogue between
data publishers (institutions) and re-users may be as crucial as the entire open data legislation.

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Valentina Pavel
(ePSI Platform correspondent for Romania105)
The year 2015 was the second of Club OGP (launched the previous year) monthly meetings and
activities focusing on open data.
In Romania we had hackathons like the Open Data Day106, the Timioara Open Culture
Hackathon107, geodata events108, and other open access and open data workshops. And from
August 2015 Romania became a member of the OGP Executive Board.
But the highlight of 2015 was that the Romanian Ministry for Information Society (MSI)
published a new law proposal109 implementing the 2013 PSI directive, which in the end became
the new law nr. 299/2015 modifying law nr. 109/2007 (that was published in the Official Journal
of 3 December 2015). Also a guide110 on how to publish Open Data, created as part of the
countrys OGP National Plan for 2014-2016, was under public consultation.

Cover and sample page of the Romanian guide on how to publish Open Data
(Source: ogp.gov.ro/planul-national/date-deschise Cancelaria Prim-Ministrului Government of Romania)

The process of transposing the revised PSI Directed into the Romanian legislation was
completed, but to be honest we must say that part of the civil society severely criticized111 the
lack of transparency of the decision making process. They considered the law a missed
opportunity, because it failed both to address the problems of the previous law on re-use of
public sector information (law nr. 109/2007) and to transform such measures into a fully
applicable law with beneficial results for all the parties involved.

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Matteo Brunati
(ePSI Platform correspondent for Italy112)
One of the most interesting initiatives related to PSI reuse in Italy was the one called Open Big
Data113, a collaborative effort between private and public sector that made possible the release
as Open Data of some Big Data collected by telecommunications companies. It's a step to
stimulate the collective conversation about the data society with something really new.
The other one initiative is derived from a better comprehension that releasing data is
something not so directly useful for the majority of the citizens, especially speaking about a
country like Italy. ItaliaSicura114 showed us public investments on construction sites with
hydrogeological instability across Italy, using a map and a dashboard, and making available the
raw data as Open Data. It was an important step to include more people inside the
conversation about data.

#italiasicura portal (Source: mappa.italiasicura.gov.it - ISPRA - Agenzia per lItalia Digitale CC-BY)

By mid-year the Open Data portal115 of the Italian public administration was revamped, and
some months later it was possible to query the catalogue116 by using an API. The Ministry of
Economic Development released datasets117 related to petrol station fuel prices, and the State
Property Office launched a new website to share open data118 related to Italian state-owned
property. But It's also important to mention the launch of many bottom-up initiatives from
Southern Italy119, a signal of constructive pressure on the local government, where the
government is not so efficient, especially speaking about Open Data.
Last but not least, it was launched Open Data 200120, the first systematic investigation into the
social and economic value of Open Data across Italy.

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97

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/users/michalkuban

98

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/prague-launches-its-open-data-portal

99

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-guidelines-czech-republic

100
101

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/czech-ministry-interior-starts-training-civil-servants-open-data
http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/ministerial-open-data-application-wins-czech-open-data-challenge

102

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/czech-parliament-opens-their-sessions-and-agenda

103

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/czech-social-security-administration-provides-open-data-pensions-socialbenefits

104

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/praguehacks-proved-potential-open-data

105

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/users/valentina-pavel

106

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-day-2015-romania-conference-hackathon

107

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/timi%C8%99oara-open-culture-hackathon

108

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/geoidearo-project-hosts-final-geodata-workshop

109

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/romania-public-consultation-psi-directive-implementation

110

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/public-consultation-romanian-open-data-publishing-guide

111

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/implementation-new-psi-directive-another-missed-opportunity-romania

112

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/users/dagoneye

113

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/data-first-big-data-challenge-now-available-open-data

114

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/mappaitaliasicuragovit-now-online

115

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/italian-national-open-data-portal-revamped

116

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/api-access-now-available-italian-open-data-portal

117

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/fuel-prices-italy-released-open-data

118

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-about-italian-state-owned-property

119

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/bottom-initiative-launches-unofficial-data-portal-sicily

120

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/opendata200-new-study-map-re-use-open-data-italy

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4 ePSI Platform: year in review

In this chapter, you can find the most relevant actions performed by the ePSI Platform, shown
chronologically during the year.

4.1 ePSI Platform in action!

January 2015

The ePSI platform Scoreboard updated the all indicators of the countries visited
during the ePSI Platform Tour in 2014121 providing a full and realistic picture of the
status of the PSI re-use in the EU28.

February 2015

The ePSI platform invited the PSI community to take part in an online survey122 to
help us better provide the kind of content that is of most interest.

March 2015

The ePSI Platform was present at the workshop123 Open Data Priorities and
Engagement - Identifying data sets for publication organized by Share-PSI 2.0
Thematic Network and hosted by Department of Computer Science of West
University of Timioara, Romania.

The ePSI Expert Advisory Board published124 a special article on Open Data Indices
and the differences among them.

May 2015

A new round of visits of the ePSI Tour in 2015, holding a meeting with
stakeholders in Riga (Republic of Latvia).

The ePSI Expert Advisory Board published125 a special article on Business Models
for PSI re-use and the barriers to them.

ePSI Platform took part in the Share PSI 2.0 workshop126 titled A self sustaining
business model for open data held in Krems (Austria).

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June 2015

The ePSI Tour continued with an international conference in Sofia (Bulgaria) with
representatives of various national governments.

The ePSI Platform took part in the event127 Discovering Open Science- Open
Opportunities held in Thessaloniki, Greece, with a speech about the different
activities that were being developed within ePSI initiative, and also collaborating
with other hands-on activities of the event.

July 2015

The next stop of the ePSI Tour in 2015 was a workshop in Bucharest128 (Romania),
involving public sector bodies, academia, industry and civil society.

The PSI Scoreboard129 was updated according to the deadline to transpose the PSI
Directive in the Member States. Big changes in the ranking due to late
transpositions.

September 2015

The next stop of the ePSI Tour 2015 was Ljubljana130 (Slovenia), in a national
conference with representatives of the national government.

The ePSI Expert Advisory Board published131 a special article on Vocabulary

Application Profiles and the revision of DCAT-AP specification.

October 2015

The ePSI Platform took part in a roundtable with the European Data Portal to
collect requirements and improve the usability of the portal, in Luxembourg.

November 2015

The ePSI Platform participated in the last Share PSI 2.0 workshop 132 titled
Maximising interoperability core vocabularies, location-aware data and more,
in Berlin (Germany).

December 2015

The ePSI Platform held a webinar on DCAT-AP 133 , presenting the common
vocabularies to achieve interoperability among open data catalogues in Europe.

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121

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/epsi-platform-announces-details-european-tour

122

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/take-part-epsi-platform-survey

123

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/one-week-go-until-3rd-share-psi-workshop

124

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-indices-good-and-evil

125

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/business-models-psi-re-use

126

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/share-psi-20-workshop-self-sustaining-business-model-open-data

127

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/epsi-platform-thessaloniki-event-%E2%80%9Cdiscovering-open-science%E2%80%93-open-opportunities%E2%80%9D

128

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/epsi-platform-tour-2015

129

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/european-psi-scoreboard

130

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/epsi-platform-tour-continue-slovenia

131

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/vocabulary-application-profiles-bridging-islands-interoperability

132

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/share-psi-berlin-workshop-maximising-interoperability

133

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/epsi-platform-webinar-dcat-ap

4.2 An assortment of PSI & Open Data related projects

Throughout the year, ePSI Platform has put relevant PSI re-use and Open Data projects under
the spotlight. They are listed below in alphabetical order:

Amsterdecks134

Data Centar135

Democratic Dashboard136

Detail Data137

EveryPolitician138

INFORM139

OpenDataMonitor140

Open Meal API141

OpenScienceLink142

OpenTraffic143

PublicaMundi144

Smart Data Web145

134

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/new-project-helps-improve-public-waters-amsterdam-0

135

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/data-centar-wants-narrow-gap-between-data-and-ideas-serbia

136

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/democratic-dashboard-tool-fans-uk-election-data-0

137

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/detail-data-project-help-charities-create-value-using-open-data

138

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/collecting-and-sharing-open-data-about-your-elected-representatives-0

139

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/how-public-data-can-help-predict-humanitarian-crises-inform-index-0

140

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/open-data-monitor-%E2%80%93-shining-light-open-datasets-europe-0

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141

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/school-food-menus-available-open-data-open-meal-api-0

142

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/opensciencelink-project-pushes-towards-publishing-sharing-and-reviewingresearch-results

143

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/have-you-heard-about-opentraffic-platform

144

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/discover-publicamundi-project-making-open-geospatial-data-easy-publishview-reuse-0

145

http://www.epsiplatform.eu/content/smart-data-web-project-launched-data-value-chain-industrial-applications

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About the Author

Luis Meijueiro has worked in consultancy services for eGovernment projects related to the
deployment of broadband infrastructure and web applications in public institutions and
business associations. In recent years Mr. Meijueiro has participated in projects linked with reuse of Public Sector Information, making use of Semantic Web technologies. His works for
regional projects include the re-use strategy for the Government of Spain, and in the
international arena he has collaborated with the International Development Research Council
(IDRC) in the development of a theoretical model for measuring the maturity of Open Data
initiatives.

Copyright information
2016 European PSI Platform This document and all material therein has been compiled
with great care. However, the author, editor and/or publisher and/or any party within the
European PSI Platform or its predecessor projects the ePSIplus Network project or ePSINet
consortium cannot be held liable in any way for the consequences of using the content of this
document and/or any material referenced therein. This report has been published under the
auspices of the European Public Sector information Platform.

The report may be reproduced providing acknowledgement is made to the European Public
Sector Information (ePSI) Platform.

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