LONDON: The UK leads the way in publishing accessible data on everything from flood risks to late trains and it is changing British industry.
In what claims to be the first comprehensive survey of its use, the Open Data Institute found that “open data” — information published in an accessible format, with a licence that permits anyone to access, use and share it — is being exploited by companies of all sizes and ages in many different sectors.
Much of it is provided by the government but some companies are also in the business of publishing facts and figures that others can use.
The UK scored highest in the open data barometer compiled by the World Wide Web foundation, with the US second and Sweden third.
Gavin Starks, chief executive of the ODI, said UK businesses had woken up to the potential of open data.
Transport API is a business that obtains, cleans up and packages transport information from thousands of sources. Jonathan Raper, chief executive, said the company could not have existed five years ago.
It makes the packaged data available for a fee and its technology is also used by developers to create transport apps. It is already turning over almost £500,000 a year.
