Oct 2021
National Open Data Conference 2021
30th November 2021 – 9.30 AM to 12.30 PM (GMT)
We were delighted to have you all back at the Ireland’s National Open Data Conference that took place on 30th November 2021.
You can now watch the recording and download the presentations in the links below.
The conference was designed to bring together the Open Data community in order to learn, share, plan and collaborate on the future of Open Data in Ireland.
This year’s conference was focused on the theme of “The Importance of Data Quality – How publishing interoperable, harmonised data can directly benefit its use and impact.” We heard from practitioners who are applying data standards, validation and quality monitoring to improve the reusablity of their data. There were also be speakers from the user community, including businesses and individuals who are using this data, who shared their experiences and the challenges that still remain.
The Open Data Conference is always open to all public servants who wish to learn more about the Open Data initiative, those working in the area of Open Data or with data in general. Open Data Liaison Officers in particular are encouraged to attend.
The 2020 conference was focused on the theme of “The journey from Open Data Publication to Impact – How the publication, reporting and re-use of data enables the delivery of improved public service”. You can read more and watch the recording here.
Agenda and Presentations
To download the presentations click on each of the corresponding links below.
| 09:30 – 09:45 | Welcome and Opening Address, Minister of State Ossian Smyth TD, with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform |
| 09:45 – 10:05 | Keynote: “Towards a Purpose and Question-driven Open Data Ecosystem” Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer, The GovLab at New York University |
| 10:05 – 10:15 | Open Data Publishing Guidelines and Impact Research Project, Rhoda Kerins, Open Data Lead, and Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti, Researcher, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform |
| 10:15 – 10:30 | “PxStat – opening up CSO’s data”, Eoin MacCuirc, Damien Roche, Lorenzo Bruni, Dissemination Applications Technology Development Team, CSO |
| 10:30 – 10:40 | “Hale & Hearty: Creating a Knowledge Base to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in Ireland”, Aishling Hyland, Digital Strategy Manager, Fingal County Council |
| 10:40 – 10:50 | “OpenActive: Using Data to help people get active”, Timothy Hill, Principal Technologist at the Open Data Institute |
| 10:50 – 11:00 | “The Role of a City Profile in developing a WHO Healthy City”, Denise Cahill, Healthy Cities Coordinator ,Cork City |
| 11:00 – 11:10 | Responses to questions in Chat |
| 11:10 – 11:20 | Break |
| 11:20 – 11:30 | “The Dublin Region Open Data Working Group: Developing a Coordinated Open Data Approach across the Dublin Region”, Luke Binns, Smart Dublin Projects Coordinator, Smart Dublin |
| 11:30 – 11:40 | “Supporting the Public Service Data Strategy with GeoHive – the State’s National Geospatial Data Hub.”, Maria Byrne, National Geospatial Infrastructure Manager, Ordnance Survey Ireland |
| 11:40 – 11:50 | “AddressLink: Building a Single Source API for Property Data in Ireland with Open Data”, Richard Cantwell, Principal Consultant, Gamma Location Intelligence |
| 11:50 – 12:00 | “Open Data Use: Our findings from the INCASE Project and Data4Nature Report“, Lisa Coleman, GIS Analyst on the INCASE project, UCD |
| 12:00 – 12:10 | “Using Open Data to provide evidence for policies to reduce Greenhouse Gases and to improve biodiversity.”, Niall Ó Brolcháin, Researcher / Lecturer in the National University of Ireland in Galway. |
| 12:10 – 12:20 | “Open Data Directive and Supporting Frameworks“, Rhoda Kerins, Open Data Lead, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. |
| 12:20 – 12:25 | Responses to questions in Chat |
| 12:25 – 12:35 | Wrap-up, Dennis Jennings, Chair of the Open Data Governance Board |
Conference Recording
Click on the Fullscreen button in the bottom bar to maximise the video window.
Speakers
We were delighted to welcome Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer, The GovLab at New York University, as our Keynote Speaker for the Open Data Conference.
In his presentation, Stefaan discusses Towards a Purpose and Question-driven Open Data Ecosystem.
“If data is only as valuable and relevant as the questions it may answer, why do we stay focused on releasing data without a more rigorous process of defining the questions that matter in society? This talk will focus on establishing a new “science of questions” to complement data science and to accelerate the practice of publishing with a purpose.“
Eoin MacCuirc, Damien Roche, Lorenzo Bruni, Dissemination Applications Technology Development Team, Central Statistics Office
“PxStat – opening up CSO’s data”
How PxStat meets the needs of the Open Data Directive and beyond, including open data license, API, full file download, widgets, maps feature, open source code published on GitHub, and dissemination. PxStat is a quality product and service, feeding data.gov.ie and many global open data users.
Aishling Hyland, Digital Strategy Manager, Fingal County Council
“Hale & Hearty: Creating a Knowledge Base to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in Ireland”
Timothy Hill, Principal Technologist, The Open Data Institute
“OpenActive: Using Data to Help People Get Active”
For the past six years, OpenActive has been transforming the physical activity sector with open data. In this talk we’ll be giving an overview of some of the unexpected pitfalls – and potentials – open data has helped reveal along the way.
Denise Cahill, Healthy Cities Coordinator Cork City
“The Role of a City Profile in developing a WHO Healthy City”
This talk focuses on the use of data for health planning and health advocacy at local level and a brief analysis of the gaps that exist and the challenges faced by practitioners. Denise is the Healthy Cities Coordinator for Cork City and Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Public Health in University College Cork. Denise has over 20 years of experience working in Public Health and Health Promotion in the Health Service in Ireland in a variety of roles including Public Health Research and Information, Health Promoting Schools, Community Health, Physical Activity, Tobacco Control management, Health Promotion Training and now in the area of Healthy Cities.
Luke Binns, Smart Dublin Projects Coordinator, Smart Dublin
“The Dublin Region Open Data Working Group: Developing a Coordinated Open Data Approach across the Dublin Region”
This presentation discusses how the four Dublin local authorities and partners have come together to forge a coordinated and increasingly harmonised approach to open data discovery, preparation and publishing. The presentation shows where progress has been made and where efforts need to be expended to deliver better outcomes for our current and future potential open data users.
Maria Byrne, National Geospatial Infrastructure Manager, Ordnance Survey Ireland
“Supporting the Public Service Data Strategy with GeoHive – the State’s National Geospatial Data Hub.”
Launched as the National Geospatial Data Hub in November 2021, GeoHive has been redesigned to meet the actions and requirements set out in the Public Service Data Strategy 2019-2023, providing discovery, evaluation and access to Government geospatial data. In this presentation, Maria demonstrates the functional and design enhancements of the GeoHive platform, share the insights and decisions that directed its development, and outline a strategy for the future that will allow citizens, business and government realise the full value of authoritative geospatial data.
Richard Cantwell, Principal Consultant, Gamma Location Intelligence
“AddressLink: Building a Single Source API for Property Data in Ireland with Open Data”
Richard is a geographer, working at the interface of spatial data, cloud technologies and client needs. In this talk he discusses learnings from building AddressLink, Gamma’s spatial property data repository for the Island of Ireland, which draws extensively from Open Data.
Lisa Coleman, GIS Analyst on the INCASE project, UCD
“Open Data Use: Our findings from the INCASE Project and Data4Nature Report”
Lisa Coleman, the GIS analyst working on the Irish Natural Capital Accounting for Sustainable Environments Project (INCASE), discusses the use of open data and the challenges encountered when using open datasets on the project. She will also give an overview of the key findings from the Data4Nature Report, an output of the Data4Nature Conference held in May.
Niall Ó Brolcháin, Researcher / Lecturer in the National University of Ireland in Galway.
“Using Open Data to provide evidence for policies to reduce Greenhouse Gases and to improve biodiversity.”
Niall specialises in using data to provide evidence for policy development.
Open Data in Ireland
The NationalOpen Data Initiative in Ireland is led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and is a key part of reform activities aiming to build more open, transparent and accountable pulic governance in Ireland. Over 10,000 dtasets are avalable on the Open Data Portal from a wide range of Public Sector publishers, including the Health Services Executive, the Central Statistics Office and Tusla.
Ireland has been highlighted as an Open Data Leader in Europe, ranking 2nd in the Open Data Maturity Report in terms of readiness and quality of data published, use, and impact.
The Open Data Strategy 2017-2022 builds on the substantial achievements of the Open Data Initiative and sets out a roadmap for the Initiative’s continued progress and development for the next five years.