Make Open Data Accessible (SE0018)

As a first step and as a way for the public sector to lead the way, government bodies should be appointed to make such data that is considered to have high potential in terms of development, innovation, collaboration and commercial exploitation as accessible as possible. Collaboration with civil society forms part of this commitment, including representatives from civil society joining DIGG’s reference group to conduct a needs analysis and to survey impacts at opendata.se. This work will be launched with three workshops in late summer 2019.

The Government has tasked DIGG with particularly promoting data domains with major potential (I2019/01416/DF, I2019/01020/DF). Within this remit, the agency is initially to prioritise data in the following areas: traffic, labour market, health, geodata and open research data. The work is to be carried out in dialogue and consultation with a range of agencies and other actors affected, including sectoral agencies responsible for these areas and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). DIGG must also take into account the Swedish Research Council’s work on open research data and Vinnova’s work on open innovation. As well as increasing the capacity of the public sector to make open data accessible, DIGG is also to develop support and guidelines particularly geared towards the needs of those making further use of the data.
• Responsible actor: Agency for Digital Government (DIGG).
• Report to be submitted by: January 31st, 2021.
• Contributes towards OGP principles: Transparency, Technology and Innovation.

2. Make open data that can best benefit society accessible

Main Objective

"As a first step and as a way for the public sector to lead the way, government bodies should be appointed to make such data that is considered to have high potential in terms of development, innovation, collaboration and commercial exploitation as accessible as possible. Collaboration with civil society forms part of this commitment, including representatives from civil society joining DIGG's reference group to conduct a needs analysis and to survey impacts at opendata.se. This work will be launched with three workshops in late summer 2019.

The Government has tasked DIGG with particularly promoting data domains with major potential (I2019/01416/DF, I2019/01020/DF). Within this remit, the agency is initially to prioritise data in the following areas: traffic, labour market, health, geodata and open research data. The work is to be carried out in dialogue and consultation with a range of agencies and other actors affected, including sectoral agencies responsible for these areas and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). DIGG must also take into account the Swedish Research Council's work on open research data and Vinnova's work on open innovation. As well as increasing the capacity of the public sector to make open data accessible, DIGG is also to develop support and guidelines particularly geared towards the needs of those making further use of the data."

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Sweden's 2019-2021 action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Sweden_Action-Plan_2019-2021_EN.pdf

Commitment Analysis

This commitment aims to identify and make more accessible certain priority datasets with "high potential in terms of development, innovation, collaboration and commercial exploitation". According to the commitment, priority data will be identified for the following categories: traffic, labour market, health, geodata, and open research data.

The Agency for Digital Government (DIGG) will lead three workshops with primary data users to inform a needs assessment on the availability and usability of data on Sweden's national open data portal opendata.se. DIGG will also develop guidelines for the public sector on best practices for sharing high-quality open data. According to a DIGG representative, DIGG will update the portal in accordance with the findings of the users' needs assessment. In addition, DIGG will also develop a national application programming interface (API) catalogue to improve the searchability of data on the portal. Moreover, DIGG aims to standardise the frameworks and processes of publishing data in machine-readable formats on the national data portal. Finally, to facilitate communication in digital practices, DIGG will establish a forum for data users and create a section on the portal to publish articles of good examples of re-use in society. ^[15]

The opening of prioritised datasets makes the commitment relevant to the OGP value of access to information. Furthermore, the planned workshops with civil society stakeholders to assist in data prioritisation makes the commitment relevant to civic participation. The workshops and guidelines are verifiable, though the commitment could have benefited from specific milestones and activities.

According to a DIGG representative, the specific categories of data for this commitment (health, geodata, etc.) have high potential to encourage data-driven innovation and improve Sweden's open data maturity. ^[16] DIGG will work with responsible agencies who produce data in these categories to improve the standardisation, quality, and access to the data. The point of contact to OGP at the Ministry of Infrastructure also informed the IRM that the Swedish Cadastral and Land Registration Agency (Lantmäteriet) and the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) will produce geodata and transport data for this commitment, respectively. ^[17]

The Swedish Transport Administration publishes its own open data regarding infrastructure and events on state-owned roads and the railway network. However, there is currently no common database for all transport data, even though the dataportal.se has data sources in several different areas, including transport. [18] Furthermore, according to a representative of the Swedish Transport Administration, transport data is in great demand in Sweden with respect to shorter travel times and smarter choices for modes of transport. [19] Mobility is also a priority area in the EU's open data strategy. [20] The Lantmäteriet currently has several e-services for the public to access maps and aerial photos. The data is digitalised according to national and international standards to facilitate reuse. However, the Lantmäteriet currently must charge fees for accessing its geodata. [21]

According to recent analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on digital governance in Sweden, the relevance of the potential benefits of open data for social value is not yet fully acknowledged in Sweden. ^[22] Therefore, strengthening the publishing practices around certain data categories of high social value could help improve the opendata.se portal as well as Sweden's overall open data maturity. Furthermore, the guidelines to be developed by DIGG could help standardise open data practices across the public sector, particularly around searchability, format, and re-usability. Ultimately, the potential impact of the commitment will depend on the amount of high-value data that is made available and the extent of the improvements to the opendata.se portal. As written in the action plan, the commitment could lead to minor but important improvements in open data in Sweden.