Government of Canada Open Data Portal

The Government of Canada produces and acquires data in areas such as health, environment, agriculture, and natural resources. The goal of the GC Open Data Portal is to create socio-economic opportunities and promote informed participation by the public by expanding access to federal government data.

Open Data is a practice that makes machine-readable data freely available by way of portals, metadata, and search tools for reuse by governments, citizens, voluntary organizations, and the private sector in new and unanticipated ways.

The GC Open Data Portal is a collaborative effort amongst Government of Canada departments and agencies to provide access to data managed by the government that can be leveraged by citizens, businesses, and communities for their own purposes. The government will work towards making public data that is not sensitive in nature (i.e. data which is NOT personal, secret, or confidential) broadly available in reusable formats.

Government of Canada's Open Data Pilot Project

The GC Open Data pilot project will enhance access to Government datasets by providing a "single-window" to data already published by individual departments and agencies on their public Websites.

The participating departments will continue to add data sets to the data catalogue throughout the pilot phase to increase the amount of information available to users.

The pilot project will gather information on usage and demand (e.g. requests for specific datasets). Feedback received during the pilot will be used in support of the enhancement of Portal services following the pilot.

Benefits of Open Data for Business and Citizens

• Support for innovation - Access to knowledge resources in the form of data supports innovation in the private sector by reducing duplication and promoting reuse of existing resources. The availability of data in machine-readable form allows for creative mash-ups that can be used to analyze markets, predict trends and requirements, and direct businesses in their strategic investment decisions.
  
  
• Leveraging public sector information to develop consumer and commercial products - Open and unrestricted access to scientific data for public interest purposes, particularly statistical, scientific, geographical, and environmental information, maximizes its use and value, and the reuse of existing data in commercial applications improves time-to-market for businesses.
  
  
• Better use of existing investment in broadband and community information infrastructure - Canada has invested in information and communications networks in the form of technical infrastructure and community services, such as libraries and social service agencies. This investment will continue to add value-for-money for Canadians by extending Web technology from one-way communications medium to collaborative environment.
  
  
• Support for research - Access to federal research data supports evidence-based primary research in Canadian and international academic, public sector, and industry-based research communities. Access to collections of data, reports, publications, and artifacts held in federal institutions allows for the use of these collections by researchers.
  
  
• Support informed decisions for consumers - Providing access to public sector service information to support informed decision-making; for example, real-time air travel statistics can help travelers to choose an airline and understand the factors that can lead to flight delays.