Ireland’s Open Data Portal – data.gov.ie

Below are some examples of pages and features of the National Open Data Portal.

The Derilinx Team is contracted by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to host, manage and develop the National Open Data Portal according to international best practice and standards. data.gov.ie provides access to all governmental open data. It provides easy access to datasets that are free to use, reuse, and redistribute.

Data.Gov.ie an International Reference in Open Data Portals

The development of data.gov.ie involves collecting, importing and harvesting data from a number of diverse sources in various Public Sector Bodies. It is important that the data is accessible, machine-readable and standardised, so that it can easily be understood and reused. The data harvesters run nightly to ensure the data is kept up to date.

Derilinx has implemented a number of geospatial data harvesters, including an API-based harvester that collects data from the Irish Spatial Data Exchange (ISDE)’s GeoServer using the ISO 19115 standard, and multiple ArcGIS harvesters that collect data from Local Authorities. We make use of the CKAN Spatial Extension, which uses PostGIS as the backend and allows it to perform spatial queries and to display the dataset extent on the frontend. Data harvesters ensures the data is timely, accurate and complete. We have extended the Open Data Portal to ensure it complies with W3C and European Commission international standardisation, ensuring maximum reuse, interoperability and impact of the data.

As part of our work on the National Open Data Initiative, Derilinx collaborates with Public Sector Bodies on data audits to identify what data assets they hold, analyse the quality of these data assets, and determine whether they are suitable for publication as Open Data. We defined a number of best practices and guidelines to support the data audit and publication process, many of which are publicly available at data.gov.ie/resources.

One of our key functions is to work together with Public Sector Bodies on the publication of Open Data. This involves the routine analysis of what data is held within an organisation, determining its confidentiality, its quality and whether it is suitable for publication as Open Data. Problems can include both technical and operational. From a technical standpoint, Open Data must be available in open, machine-readable formats to be reusable. This is often not the case with data locked away in siloed systems and proprietary formats. Derilinx works with the data owner to improve the accessibility of the data and that it is made available according to the Open Data Technical Framework, i.e. under an open licence and in open, machine-readable formats.

We are also involved in the development of Impact Stories that clearly demonstrate tangible impact of publishing and linking data for improved informed decision making across public services, private sectors and citizen-stakeholder groups through powerful analytics.

* In 2023/2024 the portal underwent a redesign to have a more modern look and to align with Government standards. Key improvements included:

• A refreshed homepage that better adheres to government standards.
• Enhanced functionality allowing publishers to flag datasets as High-Value Datasets (HVDs), making them easier for users to find. This update ensures full compliance with European Commission regulations and enables data.europa.eu to harvest HVDs.
• Upgrades to the Data Audit Tool, QA Report, Stats page, and Impact Stories for improved usability and insights.

TECHNOLOGY USED