Guide to opening up data
Use the checklist below to prepare your organisation’s data for publication as open data in the HRI data catalogue. You should also check out the open data lifecycle management model for the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
Data opener checklist
Is the data openable?
- The data must be public. Data must not contain e.g. personal data or infringe copyrights. Make sure there are no agreements that prevent the data from being opened.
- Data must be in an open and structured format. For example csv, xls, xml or interface (not pdf or html).
- The data must be licensable under a licence that allows re-use, including commercial re-use. As a general rule, the international open data licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 is recommended.
- The data should be available free of charge.
- The data is public data managed either by the City of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa or Kauniainen or by their joint municipal authorities.
Publish data in the HRI data catalogue
- Agree on a data storage and distribution platform. The data will be initially stored on the data administrator’s server and a download link will be published on the HRI service.
- Enter descriptive metadata about the data. The description describes what the data contains, how it was created and what the user should be aware of when using the data.
- Specify the administrator of the data and the administrator’s email address. The address should be a public, not personal, address.
- Specify the frequency how often the data will be updated.
- Enter the data and its details in the HRI data catalogue by using the form. The HRI service will contact the opener before the opening.
Guides for data openers
Open Knowledge International’s Open Data Handbook
Operating model for the national avoindata.fi service
European Data Portal training material on the Data Europa Academy website
The experiences of the six largest cities in building unified APIs have been compiled in a series of brochures
The City of Espoo’s guide to Data Protection and Secure Data Opening (in Finnish)
Make data known, gather feedback
- Communicate the opening of data through your organisation’s communication channels and in cooperation with the HRI. The HRI will communicate new openings on Facebook, X and LinkedIn.
- Inform HRI in a timely manner about possible changes to the data and/or metadata.
- Monitor data use, collect feedback and discuss with data users, for example on the HRI website and Facebook.
- Update the data according to the update frequency specified in its metadata (e.g. once a year).
Download the data opener checklist
The data opener checklist is also available as a single A4 sheet. Download yours here!
The HRI team will be happy to help with any questions!
Contact: hri [at] hel.fi
