A major new website has been launched to the public this year which gives anyone who wants to use it unprecedented and free access to government data in one place.

The site called data.gov.uk contains more than 2500 sets of data from across government.  All of the data is non-personal and in a format that can be reused by any individual or business to create innovative new software tools, such as applications about house prices, local amenities and services, or access to local hospitals.

Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and Professor Nigel Shadbolt from the University of Southampton, worked together to launch the website.

In the run-up to the public launch, 2400 registered developers were given access to a preview version of the site, so they could offer feedback and start experimenting with the data.

Some of the applications developed in this preview stage include:
a video which shows traffic flows and congestion on the motorway network over the past decade
the ‘School Finder’ website which enables parents to search for schools by location and Ofsted report
a “postcode newspaper” which details the different public services in a postcode area
So that people can continue to create new products in the future, data.gov.uk will be using a new, open licence, which allows government-owned data to be freely reused by anybody.

Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain, said: “Freeing up public data will create major new opportunities for businesses.  By allowing industry to use data creatively they can develop new services and generate economic value from it.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for UK firms to secure better value for money in service delivery and to develop innovative services which will help to grow the economy.”

Sir Tim Berners-Lee said: “Making public data available for re-use is about increasing accountability and transparency and letting people create new, innovative ways of using it. Government data should be a public resource.  By releasing it, we can unlock new ideas for delivering public services, help communities and society work better, and let talented entrepreneurs and engineers create new businesses and services. ”