Putting open data to use -- FCW

"On Jan. 21, 2009, President Barack Obama's very first executive memorandum declared a commitment to 'transparency and open government.' Those principles led to the Digital Government Strategy, an open-data initiative and Data.gov — a repository that launched in May 2009 with 47 datasets and now offers more than 400,000. As the sheer volume of data suggests, agencies have focused mainly on being producers of open data. In December 2009, the Office of Management and Budget gave each agency 45 days to publish 'at least three high-value [datasets] not previously available,' and many have gone on to share exponentially more. As of May 21, the Transportation Department had posted 1,953 datasets. The Census Bureau has uploaded some 239,000 geodata resources, and the Executive Office of the President has added 150 batches of data to the mix.  The emphasis on sharing was not accidental: The president, U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park have all touted the commercial and civic value of opening agencies' data vaults. Park and VanRoekel wrote in May that 'hundreds of companies and nonprofits have used these data to develop new products and services that are helping millions of Americans and creating jobs of the future in the process.' Dataphiles, however, have noted that more could be done ..."