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

Hi Bernadette, 

thank you for the pointer. 
We will look into it and will list there the open-data-projects that we 
are delivering for the European Commission. 

Kind regards, 
Nikos

Nikolaos Loutas
PwC | Manager
Direct: +32 2 7104619 | Mobile: +32 491 965851 | Fax: +32 2 7104069
Email: nikolaos.loutas@pwc.be
PwC Enterprise Advisory cvba/scrl
Firm legal information, click here




From:   Bernadette Hyland <bhyland@3roundstones.com>
To:     nikolaos.loutas@pwc.be
Cc:     stijn.goedertier@pwc.be, pieter.breyne@pwc.be, 
Daniele.Rizzi@ec.europa.eu, Malte.BEYER-KATZENBERGER@ec.europa.eu, 
"Vassilios.PERISTERAS@ec.europa.eu Peristeras" 
<Vassilios.PERISTERAS@ec.europa.eu>, Makx Dekkers <makx@makxdekkers.com>, 
bert.van.nuffelen@tenforce.com, bastiaan.deblieck@tenforce.com, 
sebastiaan.rousseeuw@pwc.be, Niels.Vandekeybus@tenforce.com, 
public-opendatadir@w3.org
Date:   06/11/2013 17:53
Subject:        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
PwC Enterprise Advisory cvba/scrl
Firm legal information, click here


*Professional Mail*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed.
If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail,
please notify the author by replying to this e-mail. If you are not
the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
rely on this e-mail.
 
PwC may monitor outgoing and incoming e-mails and
other telecommunications on its e-mail and telecommunications systems.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



*Professional Mail*

*Professional Mail*