[open-government] [ckan-discuss] Release of DataCatalogs.org to map open data around the world

Sat Jul 2 06:09:29 UTC 2011

Thanks for your email Philip!

On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 7:16 PM, Philip Ashlock <phil at openplans.org> wrote:
> I'm really excited about datacatalogs.org and glad to see it looking so
> polished.

Great! :-)

> I've been trying to maintain a list of data catalog aggregators (sites like
> datacatalogs.org) which could perhaps be used to build a checklist of the
> people we can get in touch with to help consolidate at datacatalogs.org or
> to set up a scrapper or a notification mechanism to see when they are
> updated.
>
> http://wiki.civiccommons.org/Initiatives#Open_Government_Data_Catalog_Aggregators

Brilliant. As a point of detail, this is not a metadata aggregator per
se (like publicdata.eu or opendatasearch.org) but more of a source
list for such aggregators.

> One valid argument that I think many will present against exclusively
> consolidating at datacatalogs.org is the limited means by which listings are
> organized and displayed at datacatalogs.org. The lack of a map was
> mentioned, but I don't think that is nearly as important as providing a
> simple way of grouping and therefore browsing using an intuitive and
> consistent hierarchy or taxonomy rather than solely relying on search and
> adhoc tagging.

This is all coming! We have spoken to many different users about
having lists of data catalogues for different purposes. E.g. an
official list of official data catalogues in country X, moderated
groups for data catalogues that implement standard Y, etc. The map is
in the pipeline. This is totally alpha as we wanted to do a bit of
'release early, release often' to coincide with OKCon.

Just started a wiki page for requested features - please add/flesh out
ideas here: http://wiki.okfn.org/DataCatalogsOrg

> Perhaps this can be done by trying to better enforce a consistent identifier
> for Spatial Coverage, either by using a predefined directory or API which
> provides such things or attempting to automatically geocode the input using
> free APIs, even perhaps hosting a GeoDict install:
> http://www.datasciencetoolkit.org/developerdocs#geodict

Perhaps someone from the CKAN team who has been working on the new
geospatial stuff can jump in here and explain the plan a bit?

J.

> On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 6:15 PM, John Glover <john.glover at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>> Great stuff Martin, we should be able to integrate that under
>> datacatalogs.org, I'll double check with Jonathan and get back to you.
>>
>>
>> John
>>
>> On 1 July 2011 13:00, Martin Alvarez-Espinar
>> <martin.alvarez at fundacionctic.org> wrote:
>> > Hello Jonathan,
>> >
>> > We're going to adapt our faceted browser [1] to the new repository
>> > (datacatalogs.org). May it be integrated under datacatalogs.org or just
>> > linked from the website?
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance.
>> >
>> > Best regards,
>> >
>> > Martin
>> >
>> > [1] http://datos.fundacionctic.org/sandbox/catalog/faceted/
>> >
>> > On 30/06/11 10:45, Jonathan Gray wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi all,
>> >>
>> >> We’re very pleased to announce an alpha version of datacatalogs.org, a
>> >> website to help keep track of open data catalogues from around the
>> >> world. The project is being launched to coincide with our annual
>> >> conference, OKCon 2011 [1]. You can see the site here:
>> >>
>> >>   http://datacatalogs.org/
>> >>
>> >> Further information about the launch (including a press release) is
>> >> available here:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> http://blog.okfn.org/2011/06/30/release-of-datacatalogs-org-to-map-open-data-around-the-world/
>> >>
>> >> We'd be *very* grateful for any help in blogging, tweeting, and
>> >> passing this on to friends and colleagues. We want to make this into a
>> >> comprehensive list of open data catalogues from around the world.
>> >>
>> >> All the best from Berlin,
>> >>
>> >> Jonathan
>> >>
>> >> [1] http://okcon.org/2011
>> >>
>> >
>> > --
>> > Martín Álvarez Espinar
>> >
>> > Fundación CTIC
>> > Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Gijón
>> > c/ Ada Byron, 39 Edificio Centros Tecnológicos
>> > 33203 Gijón - Asturias - España
>> > Tel.: +34 984 29 12 12
>> > Fax: +34 984 39 06 12
>> > E-mail: martin.alvarez at fundacionctic.org
>> > http://www.fundacionctic.org
>> > Política de Privacidad: http://www.fundacionctic.org/privacidad
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > ckan-discuss mailing list
>> > ckan-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-discuss
>> >
>>
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>
>
>
> --
>
> --
> Philip Ashlock
> Open Government Program Manager | OpenPlans.org | @philipashlock
>
>
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>
>

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

http://twitter.com/jwyg
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