Ladies and Gentlemen, start your mashups

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your mashups

• In: Uncategorized
• By: john
• October 15th, 2007

Via Builder AU, we learn that the Australian Bureau of Statistics is planning to open up it’s data for mashups.

As part of an ongoing plan to make more of its data available in a variety of formats, the ABS is working to enable users to generate their own tables from raw statistical data and then present the information using maps.

The US Government has long had the policy (in fact the constitutional obligation I believe) to open its data sources, which has given rise to amazing mashups like these from a speaker at our first Web Directions North, Ducky Sherwood. I’m sure there’ll be many developers raring to get their hands on this data and do likewise for Australia.

So, I think this is sensational news. At a recent presentation to Government Developers and other web folk in Victoria, I floated the idea of an API Czar, responsible for opening up government databases and data sources to public use, mashups and so on.

The ABS is surely the lead Government organization to start what will hopefully become an avalanche of government data available for developers to get their hands on.