Switzerland has a new portal for open government data
Bern, 02.02.2016 - As of today, the new Swiss portal for open government data (OGD) opendata.swiss is online. It replaces the pilot portal opendata.admin.ch. The Confederation, cantons, communes and other organisations are offering their freely available data centrally on the platform, which is operated by the Federal Archives. The portal is a measure forming part of the Open Government Data Strategy for Switzerland 2014-18.
On the new OGD portal opendata.swiss, Swiss public authorities are publishing their data under uniform terms of use – unlike the pilot portal opendata.admin.ch, which had been operating since 2013. The aim is to make it easier for interested parties to exploit the data. The data catalogue and search function have also been improved in opendata.swiss, building on experience gained from the pilot.
New data
Additional data owners are present on the new portal: Swiss Federal Railways SBB, the Canton of Geneva, the Federal Roads Office as well as other federal offices. As a result, 17 organisations are now offering more than 500 datasets on the portal, covering topics as diverse as population, health, politics, transport and the environment. The organisations that were already making data available on the pilot portal are also represented on opendata.swiss. The data offering is now being continually expanded.
Measure forms part of the OGD Strategy
opendata.swiss achieves a milestone in the OGD Strategy for Switzerland 2014-18, which was approved by the Federal Council in April 2014. Its goal is to publish data from the authorities in Switzerland in machine-readable, open formats which can be freely reused. The Confederation is providing the central infrastructure to facilitate data searching, and is also making data from its own authorities available on opendata.swiss. The aim is to make it easier to exploit the data’s potential.
Further information on OGD in Switzerland and the organisations involved can be found at opendata.swiss/about.
Address for enquiries
bundesarchiv@bar.admin.ch
Links
Publisher
General Secretariat FDHA
http://www.edi.admin.ch
Federal Statistical Office
http://www.statistics.admin.ch
Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports
http://www.vbs.admin.ch
Coordinating agency for Federal geographical information GSG
http://www.geo.admin.ch/internet/geoportal/en/home.html
Federal Office of Public Health
http://www.bag.admin.ch
Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture
http://www.blw.admin.ch
Swiss Federal Archives
http://www.bar.admin.ch
