Govt to push 'open data' to help business growth - The Japan News

"Weather, transportation and other data held by government offices will become more freely and easily accessible on the Internet to help companies and entrepreneurs start new businesses and services, according to a government plan. The promotion of 'open data,' an idea that certain types of information should be freely accessible to everyone, was incorporated into the government’s economic growth strategy unveiled in mid-June. Open data has been embraced mostly by the United States and European nations. According to the Cabinet Secretariat, the governments of 41 countries have set up websites for searching public data. In accordance with rules clearly defined on the sites, users are allowed to save the data for business or other purposes. The U.S. government provides more than 400 types of public data, such as information on demography, crime, geology and topography in various formats. U.S. private real-estate search engines that use such data to calculate property prices generate about 50 million dollars (about 5 billion yen) yearly from user fees. At the Group of Eight summit held in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, earlier this month, the leaders agreed to promote open data. '[Open data] has become a global trend,' Ichita Yamamoto, minister in charge of information technology policy, said at a working-level meeting on the issue Friday. Yamamoto instructed officials concerned to accelerate moves toward open public data. In Japan, statistics compiled by government ministries and municipal governments are made available on the Internet. However, in many cases, such data are available only in PDF format for viewing in a Web browser, and thus cannot be easily saved onto a computer. Such restrictions make the data inconvenient to use, and in many cases it is not clear which parts are under copyright. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry have been pushing their open data projects since the start of this year. The economy ministry makes available such data as trade white papers and energy consumption reports of the past 10 years, while the internal affairs ministry releases white papers on information and communications of the past three years. Both types of data can be used for business purposes as long as they are properly attributed. The government plans to set up a website where users can search data across ministries on an experimental basis in autumn, with an eye toward full operation next fiscal year. It hopes to gradually increase the amount of data to levels comparable with other nations in three years ...  Sabae at the forefront ...  Ahead of the central government’s move, the government of Sabae, Fukui Prefecture, has been disclosing data on the city’s population, emergency shelters and cultural assets. Based on these data, local IT engineers and students developed about 40 software applications including one that shows evacuation centers and routes, and another that displays bus routes and locations of buses in service. If the government’s open data efforts shift into high gear, the development of sophisticated services can be expected. For example, if data on road traffic and restrictions were made available on smartphones and vehicle navigation systems, they could be used to guide drivers to evacuation areas and avoid traffic jams. Data about plans for condominium construction would come in handy for business operators planning to set up new commercial facilities. Information on the number of people receiving nursing care on public insurance would help such businesses as home delivery services and insurance products for the elderly."