Linked Open Data as Data Sharing on the Web

Mathematics Machine Learning Technology Artificial Intelligence Technology 　Database Technology Algorithm Programming Technology 　Digital Transformation ICT 　Semantic Web Technology

LOD (Linked Open Data) is a mechanism for publishing and sharing data suitable for computer processing on the Web. In contrast to the conventional Web, which aims to create an information space for humans by hyperlinking between HTML documents, LOD aims to create a “Web of data” that can be used by computers by linking structured data. This is an important technology for the formation of the Semantic Web. The four principles for LOD in the Semantic Web are as follows

Use URIs as identifiers for all data.
Use HTTP URIs (rather than URNs or other schemes) as identifiers to enable reference and access.
When the URI is accessed, provide useful information in a standard format (e.g., RDF).
The data includes links to related information in other information sources to support information discovery on the Web.

In contrast, the Open Knowledge Foundation’s (OKFN) definition of open in its Open Data Handbook is as follows

「A piece of content or data is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and 
redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute 
and/or share-alike.4」

 (「一片のコンテンツもしくはデータは、誰もが自由に利用、再利用、再配布できる 場合にはオープンデ
ータとなる。ただし、属性や共有の面で制限があった場合には その限りではない」)

In more detail, open data can be defined as “a piece of content or data that can be freely used, reused, or redistributed by anyone without specific restrictions,” provided that “there is no cost burden, the format can be freely used or transformed by anyone, and there are no restrictions on how it can be used or for what purpose. Open data can be defined as “a piece of content or data that can be freely used, reused, or redistributed by anyone without specific restrictions” under such conditions as “no restrictions on how it can be used or for what purpose.

This definition can be interpreted to mean that open data is of a highly public nature, in line with the fact that it is currently being led by governments, and confirms that it is a limited interpretation of the Semantic Web definition mentioned earlier, which says that it is only necessary to link to it.

As for the latter, governmental open data, its primary purpose is to be a means to achieve the goal of open government. This, together with the concept of e-government, has been promoted by Western governments and, more recently, by the Japanese government.

Another goal of governmental open data is to promote private business through the use of open data and enterprise data. This is stated, for example, by the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF), a US open data project, as follows

Open Data Initiatives: Stimulating a rising tide of innovation and entrep-
reneurship that utilizes government data to create tools that help Ameri-
cans in numerous ways – e.g., apps and services that help people find the
 right health care provider, Identify the college that provides the best
 value for their money, save money on electricity bills through smarter 
shopping, or keep their families safe by knowing which products have been
 recalled. 

(オープンデータイニシアチブ: 政府のデータを利用して米国市民を様々な方法 で支援できるようなツー
ルを開発するというイノベーション、アントレプレヌアシッ プ(起業家精神)の出現を刺激する。具体的には、
米国市民が適切な医療サービ ス機関を見つけられるようなアプリケーションやサービス、学費に見合った
教育 が受けられる大学を見つけられるようなアプリケーションやサービス、スマートな 購買を通して電力
料金を節減できるようなアプリケーションやサービス、使用製品のリコール状況を確認でき家族の生命の
安全を守れるようなアプリケーションやサービス、の開発を促進させる)

In this way, open data is not only a means of information disclosure, but also a means of driving business innovation.

BrightScope: Web service that provides information on business (financial) and defined contribution pension plans, using relevant data published by federal agencies and industry organizations.
Zonability: Business (Real Estate), an application that visualizes zoning information for real estate companies and buyers. It utilizes spatial data, GIS data, and registered information on zoning published by each municipality.
Total Weather Insurance: Business (insurance), an insurance service that covers crop damage for agriculture. It analyzes weather data, crop harvest data, soil data, etc. to determine crop damage risks and generates insurance products in real time.
Melon: Business (energy), a service that allows managers and owners of commercial buildings to check the Ebergy Star Scope (the results of Energy Star benchmarking), a standard index that indicates the power efficiency of their buildings.
iTriage: Healthcare, an information application that enables patients to make appropriate decisions when using healthcare services, such as selecting the best healthcare provider for treating their condition. It uses open data on medical institutions.
Community Clash: A social card application that allows users to compete against each other in healthcare and city health. Utilizes a variety of health-related data indicators from across the United States.
Mom Maps: A mobile application that allows users to search for and check child-friendly public facilities in a community or neighborhood. Utilizes public facility data published by local governments.
Routesy: An application that allows communities to check the real-time status of major public transportation systems in the Bay Area region near San Francisco. It uses public transportation data published by the city.
DataMasher: An open data mashup service with the goal of educating the private sector on what they can do with open data to enable open data initiatives by government agencies.
Junar: Provides open data support tools and a web-based publishing platform for government agencies to publish their data holdings as open data.
CrimeReport: An application that provides real-time mapping of crime data on behalf of communities and law enforcement agencies, allowing private citizens to check the status of crime in their neighborhoods.
FlyOnTime.us: A service that allows users to check the on-time performance of the U.S. commercial airline network on an airport and airline basis. It utilizes aviation-related data and weather data released by government agencies.
PlantMaps: A simple visualization service that displays interactive maps of weather and USDA plant hardiness zone data.
Many Bills: Politics, a web service that visualizes the contents of congressional bills in a topical way, with the goal of making them as easy to understand as possible.
Congress API: Politics, an API for providing third parties with various information about members of Congress and Congress from the data in the proprietary database that the New York Times has accumulated mainly in open databases.

In Japan, the most famous statistical database is E-STAT. It was developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and produced by the National Statistics Center (NSTC). It covers 17 categories: “Land and Meteorology,” “Population and Households,” “Labor and Wages,” “Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries,” “Mining and Industry,” “Commerce and Service Industry,” “Business, Household, and Economy,” “Housing, Land, and Construction,” “Energy and Water,” “Transportation and Tourism,” “Information and Communication, Science and Technology,” “Education, Culture, Sports, and Education, Culture, Sports, and Living; Public Administration and Finance; Justice, Security, and Environment; Social Security and Sanitation; International; and Others.

In the next article, I would like to discuss GIS data handling using this ESTAT.

LOD (1) sharing data on web

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