Re: Implementing DCAT in the Open Data Support project of the European Commission

Hi Nikolaos,
Thank you for sharing an update about the Open Data Support project & its use of DCAT-AP.  That is a great development & contribution to the worldwide open data effort.

Mailing lists are a useful way to share info in a slice of time, however sometimes important content (like the news about how you're using DCAT-AP) gets archived and people unfamiliar with a specific list might miss really useful info...

Thus, a small group of people thought that a dynamically generated open data directory that has some basic contact info, project description info & charts would help advance the common objectives of the open data effort.  

Last year, we created a simple open data directory to help open data researchers, developers & policy makers get a sense of who is doing what.[1]  

Organizations use the directory to generate a simple RDF file with their directory details & host it on the public website.  They enter the URL in the Directory form and then daily, we harvest the Linked Data just like Google or any other search engine.   

The Open Data Directory is now in a W3C Community Group with about 16 participants.[2]  Here is the FAQ on W3 Community Groups.[3]

I encourage PWC and others working with the EC to look at the Open Data Directory and consider adding a listing about projects you're doing.  Also, please consider join the Community Group to help shape this site over time.  We do plan to keep this site fresh & evolving.  I've offered the same code base to the UK ODI team to use/revise as they see fit and help advance our mutual goals to publish & use more high quality data on the Web.

Thus far it has been a small volunteer based effort and the Community Group has not yet been active (yet).  

The code entirely Open Source (Apache 2.0) and data is all available as RDF (Turtle).  It is a good way to build community among people who are already open data advocates & in some cases, Linked Data savvy.  Here is the Open Data Directory FAQ if you want to get started.[4]

Cheers,

Bernadette Hyland
chair Open Data Directory Community Group


[1] Open Data Directory see http://dir.w3.org

[2] http://www.w3.org/community/opendatadir/2013/06/26/launching-the-open-data-directory/

[3] http://www.w3.org/community/about/faq/

[4] FAQ  see http://dir.w3.org/directory/pages/faq.docbook?view

On Nov 5, 2013, at 4:51 PM, nikolaos.loutas@pwc.be wrote:

> Dear all, 
> 
> we are proud to announce that the Open Data Support project  is using an application profile of DCAT (DCAT-AP) as the common standard for homogenising description metadata of datasets published on government data portals. 
> 
> What is Open Data Support? 
> 
> Open Data Support is a 36 month project that PwC is running on behalf of DG CONNECT. Open Data Support aims to improve the visibility and facilitate the access to datasets published on local and national government data portals in order to increase their reuse within and across borders. It is a pan-European initiative targeting both those data publishers that are well underway but also the ones that are just starting. 
> To find out more about the project, visit us at opendatasupport.eu or take a look at the description of our services at www.slideshare.net/OpenDataSupport/open-data-support-service-description 
> 
> What is the DCAT Application Profile for data portals in Europe (DCAT-AP)? 
> 
> The DCAT-AP is a specification based on DCAT for describing public sector datasets in Europe. It  was a common initiative of the ISA Programme of the European Commission, the Publications Office and DG CONNECT involving an international working group of experts, aiming. 
> 
> The DCAT-AP identifies the essential elements and attributes of DCAT in the European context; and identifies the controlled vocabularies to be used in the European context. 
> More information about it can be found at: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/asset/dcat_application_profile/description 
> 
> How is Open Data Support using DCAT(-AP)? 
> 
> In order to facilitate the access to datasets available on disparate government data portals, Open Data Support is putting in place a central metadata infrastructure (ODIP). 
> The metadata of datasets is harvested from government data portals and, before stored on ODIP and published as Linked Data, it is homogenised using the DCAT-AP. 
> 
> The harmonisation is carried out by creating mappings both at the schema and at the value level. 
> The creation of the mappings is done using a set of software plugins for ODIP (which is based on the Linked Open Data Management Suite developed in the LOD2 project). 
> The mappings are encoded in the form of SPARQL queries. 
> 
> Currently, the DCAT-AP description metadata of more than 31000 datasets from 8 national catalogs are available for reuse through our public SPARQL endpoint at data.opendatasupport.eu 
> 
> It is also worth mentioning that in the context of our training services, delivered to the public administrations of all EU Member States and to EU Institutions, Open Data Support is promoting the DCAT-AP (and consequently DCAT) as the standard for describing datasets and catalogs in Europe. 
> Our training curriculum is available at training.opendatasupport.eu 
> 
> Should you be interested in finding out more about our work, please do not hesitate to contact us. 
> 
> Kind regards, 
> Nikos
> 
> Nikolaos Loutas
> PwC | Manager
> Direct: +32 2 7104619 | Mobile: +32 491 965851 | Fax: +32 2 7104069
> Email: nikolaos.loutas@pwc.be
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