What is the Finland Local Open Data Census?

The Finland Local Open Data Census is an ongoing, crowdsourced measure of the current state of access to a selected group of datasets in Finnish municipalities. Community members contribute assessments of datasets for the participating municipalities. Census content is periodically peer-reviewed by a team of volunteers and municipal officials, led by Open Knowledge Finland.

How can the results of the Finland Local Open Data Census be used?

The census is a limited benchmarking tool, enabling a comparison of open data and its progress in different municipalities. The list of datasets is not complete or completely accurate. Anyone can suggest new additions to the list. The census can also be used to promote open data to new municipalities. It provides direct examples on how other cities have opened their data.

Who’s running this?

This site and the Open Data Census platform is run by the Open Knowledge. Each individual census is run by its specific team and community who are responsible for its content and validity. In Finland, it’s run by Open Knowledge Finland with support from the community and participating municipalities. Anyone can participate by proposing new revisions for the reviewers. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, send a message to antti.poikola@okf.fi. We are open to feedback and welcome all suggestions on improving the census.

What's the Finland Local Open Data Census data collection and review process?

It works like this:

  1. Contributors (anyone) can submit information about the availability (or not) of key datasets in their city (for example Real-Time Transit in Tampere).

  2. For edits to submissions, contributors may Propose Revisions.

  3. Reviewers (Open Knowledge Finland, Municipalities, selected volunteers) either approve (with or without amendments) or reject the Proposed Revisions.

  4. If approved, these Submissions become an official entry in the Census and are displayed on the website.

Where can I discuss or get help with the Finland Local Open Data Census?

You can get help by emailing antti.poikola@okf.fi or Roberto.Corsini@hel.fi. You can also discuss on the Finnish Open Data Ecosystem Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fi.okfn/