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Exposing non-personal government data in new ways

 
One of the many issues the Open Government Information and Data Re-use work programme has encountered is the perception that wider government has not released many useful datasets, databases and other information resources.  While we appreciate that much work still needs to be done (and is being done) in this space, we thought it might be helpful to provide the public with a list of just some of the datasets, databases and other information resources that are already available online, usually on the websites of their source agencies.
 
Here are a structured, machine-readable Atom feed  , an Excel spreadsheet  and a csv file of some of these government datasets, databases and other information resources.  This list has been collated from details provided by government agencies working with the SSC and Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) on the work programme.  It is not a complete list and does not include data from agencies such as the Ministry for the Environment, NIWA and Landcare Research which are leaders in opening up their data. We see this list as illustrating the vast array of government online data already available.
 
We are publishing these details in these formats  as a small first step towards opening up non-personal New Zealand government data in new ways. This approach is a proof of concept for SSC and DIA's work in developing Government's approach to opening up non-personal New Zealand government data. 
 
This work is a precursor to a formal release later this year of a New Zealand Government Open Access and Information Licensing Framework (NZGOALF) which will provide guidance for agencies and the public  on the use of the Creative Commons suite of New Zealand Law licences across the New Zealand State Services.
 
We see the release of government-held data as a necessary but not sufficient step for both the community and government to reap the benefits of re-using it to create social and economic growth for New Zealanders and the economy. Therefore our joint work will also continue to look at making it easier to find and reuse government-held data and information.
 
 
 
State Services Commission
August 2009