The central commitment of the UK Government to Open Data and Open Data Standards has continued and this has built towards the desire to not only publish data in ways that are open but to do this with data that isin a way that is both useful and structured in a way that is useful. This has necessarily focused on both enabling innovation and improving public sector efficiencies. The UK Government Linked Data Working Group (UKGovLD) was formed as a commitment in the Open Data white paper, and grew from an UK INSPIRE Linked Data Working Group. UKGovLD is here to advise UK Government on the implementation of Linked Data technologies and associated business practices, highlighting areas of best practice and identifying projects that should be prioritised or amended. All to enable collaboration and the delivery of core projects for the benefit of the UK.

1. Using linked data
and the semantic web
Alexander Coley: Data Policy & Standards Manager (Defra)
4th March 2013

2. Some political context
from the UK UK Location Strategy (2008)
INSPIRE (EU 2007 Dir;
UK 2009 Reg)
Transparency, Open Data &
Growth (2010 Coalition
Agreement) + (2012 Open Data
White Paper & commitments)
ICT + Digital Strategy (2011 & 2012)
the Open Data Institute (2012)

3. the Transparency & Open Data
agenda (six objectives)
Identifying best
practice and waste
Supporting informed choices How can I deliver a
Helping parents identify more efficient court
the best school for their service
children in a locality
Public Sector
Choice Productivity Driving up quality and
improving outcomes
“Sunlight is the best Publishing
disinfectant’ comparable data on
Publishing financial data, GP outcomes
contracts, and Job
holders above SCS1
Transparency Public Sector
Accountability
& Open Data Outcomes
Economic Social Helping people help
Raw material for enterprise
Growth Growth themselves
By accessing
to build with
personal health
Life Sciences – the NHS
records online.
is global data centre for
innovation

4. www.deloitte.com/view/en_GB/uk/market-insights/deloitte-analytics/

5. This is a restrictive environment,
and not just for the gold fish

6. Do you see any information flow between
individuals in this environment?

7. the World Wide Web is
the most successful
information system ever devised...
but why did the Web win? © meyshanworld

8. |lots of reasons
but a big one is…
all because the web lets you
link documents together
& linked data does this for data
© mako_side_b

9. data.gov.uk
9045 datasets (and growing)
Over 1000 location datasets
Over 160 location services
Over 900m weather data points
Over 3.1m visits
Over 2.3m unique visitors

10. Publishing principles
if we publish data to the web
10

11. 5 Stars of Open Data
make your stuff available on the web (whatever format)
make it available as structured data (eg excel instead of
image scan of a table)
non-proprietary format (eg csv instead of excel)
use URLs to identify things, so that people can point at
your stuff
link your data to other people’s data to provide context
not a big step from INSPIRE
but some gaps:
commitment, maintenance, api, documentation, interest etc

12. • the usability of data (data as a service)
• the maintenance and support
• the consistency of approach
• the data quality
• the supporting information
• the feedback mechanisms
• the interest and usefulness
© raymo

13. 13

14. 14

15. Some lessons learnt & what next
especially from the environmental sector
15

16. the community is key...
16
© ollycourtney

17. © b-tal

18. Bathing Water
Data &
Explorer
Built on top of
same data
feeds and
tools that we
have opened
up to others
Replaces
WIYBY
functionality
plus Static
PDF profiles
Note: On top
of the data
being made
available

19. Helping Local
Authorities
Tools to help
them add
dynamic data
into their
existing
websites
quickly
Maximising
the reach

20. Feeds allow
others to
innovate
Low burden
for developers
to use data
and build
their own
apps
Example is
Arup’s Beach
Selecta
iPhone app

21. Next step:
Proof of
Concept with
WFD data
Working with
Rivers Trust -
same
approaches
and aims
Delivering in
March with
further work
next year if
deemed
successful

22. RDF is not enough
api and Linked Data as a service
documentation and communications
supporting the service &
not breaking other peoples applications
reuse rather than reinvention
© alexrcoley

23. Some shared needs but also differences –
the approach is beginning to highlight real
potential efficiencies
23

25. environment.data.gov.uk
developer focused environmental data
25

28. © byrnsey

29. Some of the current public sector initiatives
Reference Organograms, NaPTAN & NTPG
Data +
Data Wales, Standards, RDF metadata
+ deprivation Comparable Financial Data +
Bathing Water Quality, Reference Geographies Numerous Projects &
Reference Data, + Linked Data based tools
Deprivation British National Bibliography Environment web
Energy Use Statistics,
Internal social graphs Meteorological Observations, Linked Data based tools
& BI + Locations
Legislation,
Gazettes Register of Companies
+++
Crime & legislation
statistics Linked Data based tools

30. URIs
Bathing Waters:
http://environment.data.gov.uk/id/bathing-water/{eubwId}
Sample Point: http://location.data.gov.uk/so/ef/SamplePoint/bwmp.eaew/{bwmpId}
spatial namespace
object localID
feature type
inspire
theme
Observations:
http://environment.data.gov.uk/data/bathing-water-quality/in-
year/sample/date/{date}/time/{time}/point/{bwmpId}

31. Some links...
http://data.gov.uk
http://environment.data.gov.uk
http://data.gov.uk/linked-data
and http://data.gov.uk/linked-data/UKGovLD
https://twitter.com/UKGovLD and https://twitter.com/alexrcoley
http://data.gov.uk/location
http://www.theodi.org/
http://gov.uk/government
http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GB/uk/market-insights/deloitte-analytics/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-digital-strategy
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-data-white-paper-
unleashing-the-potential