Australia ranks at number one in the 2016/2017 Global Open Data Index.
Australia and New Zealand have been named among the top nations in providing open government data.
The latest results of an global open data index reveal that Australia is ranked equal first out of 94 countries. Tying equal first with Australia was the nation of Taiwan. New Zealand also had a strong result, beating the Unites States and Brazil to take out number seven on the index.
The Global Open Data Index (GODI) aims to provide the most comprehensive snapshot available of the state of open government data publication. Published by The Open Knowledge Institute annually, GODI ranks how well nations publish open government data against 14 key categories.
Top 8 results of the Global Open Data Index as at 8 May 2017 (click to enlarge).
Australia scored full marks in three of the spatial categories including, “Administration Boundaries,” “National Maps,” and “Locations.” The datasets where Australia did not perform well include “Land Ownership,” “Government Spending” and “Water Quality.”
Australia’s Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, Angus Taylor, said the GODI results confirmed the Australian Government was on track with its commitment to making data more openly available.
“I am delighted, but not surprised, to see Australia being ranked as the best in the world when it comes to open government data,” Assistant Minister Taylor said.
Angus Taylor (left) explores UAV technology with Anton van Wyk of Spatial Technologies at Locate16.
In 2016, Angus Taylor attended Australia’s national spatial and surveying event, Locate, where he learned about the value of spatial data. Soon after, he and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull launched the national Smart Cities Plan. Open data is a key enabler in making future schemes such as this practically possible.
A key example of an open spatial dataset that has been released by the federal government is the the Geo-coded National Address File (GNAF) created by PSMA Australia. It was made available through data.gov.au in February 2016 and Taylor claims it has since seen a range of benefits.
“GNAF has been used for a wide range of business and operational purposes, such as infrastructure planning, business planning and analysis, logistics and service planning, emergency and disaster response,” said Taylor.
“Data was one of the earliest success stories of this Government as we increased the 500 datasets available in 2013 to more than 20,000 datasets currently – and this has delivered real benefits in innovation.”
“Another example is the National Map which allows us to better understand datasets for creating new businesses and applications.
“We must now ensure that we keep this momentum going in order to fill the gaps highlighted by the global index and build on our initial successes.”
