The number of the sets of data opened during the year has almost doubled, and the number of those, who are interested in data that have been opened, increased 5 times. This is shown by 2021 review of progress in the opening of public sector data, that was prepared by the Information Society Development Committee
‘These trends are encouraging. They show a growing need for open data. This year, we hope to further activate the data opening process itself and to open at least 500 data sets, including high value data, which can become the basis for new products and technologies. Therefore, we look forward to smooth cooperation in this process on the part of all public sector bodies,’ – says Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of Economy and Innovation.
According to the review data, since 2020, the amount of data, that were opened on the Lithuania’s Open Data Portal (ADP), increased by 94 percent, and this, in turn, increased almost 5 times the number of users interested in open data. In 2021, compared to 2020, the number of reviews of data sets increased 20 times – they were reviewed nearly 140,000 times and nearly 11 thousand times they were downloaded for use.
Data of the Register of Addresses and of the Register of Legal Entities, that were opened by the Centre of Registers, are among the most valuable data. The portal also receives the highest number of visitor queries for this data.
Last year, the categories of economic activity and business and of economics and finance were supplemented by the biggest amount of open data – 52 and 50 sets respectively. The environmental category was supplemented by 25 sets, the category of public administration, public administration – by 21 sets, the category of transport and communications – by 18 sets, the health care category – by 15 sets, the social security category – by 9 sets, the category of education – by 4 sets.
‘The public sector has huge data resources at its disposal. They have great commercial potential. It is only necessary to be able to use these data resources wisely in developing various new technological solutions. It is delighting that already almost half of the data on the portal have been opened at a level of maturity, which is greater than 3. This means that these data are of high quality, and they can be reused more easily in developing new products, services or innovative solutions,’ – says Eglė Markevičiūtė, Vice-Minister of Economy and Innovation.
This year there are plans to open cadastral data of Georeferenced base. The vector map data, which are stored on this platform, can be extremely widely used in all areas where a map is required. This year, meteorological data should also be presented on the Lithuania’s Open Data Portal. Such data would be particularly useful for farmers, and they would also make it possible to provide more accurate information on weather conditions.
In addition, ways will be sought this year on how to open at least part of the data sets for goods and services – business representatives and the general public could download data on manufacturers and service providers, parameters of goods and services, the environmental friendliness of the product, etc. In the future, data sets for immovable property also will be available. They would be extremely valuable in planning to buy immovable property, to check the boundaries of privately owned plots of land, also in planning business activities given the land use and purpose.
The Lithuania’s Open Data Portal was developed and launched in summer 2020. The portal enables business representatives and the general public to conveniently receive and use, in line with a one-stop-shop principle, data processed by the public sector. Data sets, published by the authorities, are processed here, and they are opened centrally via the State Data Governance Information System, which is managed by the Lithuanian Department of Statistics. In this system, data are depersonalised, verified and, as required, are combined into meaningful additional open data sets.
It is estimated that rational use of the data can additionally generate 2 percent of national GDP.
