"DataMarket.com Launches with 100 Million Open Data Time Series – Remains Firmly Commited to Open Data"

From a Guest Post on the Open Knowledge Foundation Blog by Hjalmar Gislason, founder of DataMarket.com, and member of the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Working Group on EU Open Data:

We‘ve just launched an offering of statistics from some of the world’s most important sources of open data on DataMarket.com. This enables users to find, compare, visualize and download statistics from organizations such as the UN, World Bank, Eurostat, Gapminder and others in a single place.
As I’ve previously written in a guest post here on the OKFN blog, I believe that the real opportunity in open data lies in helping people discover all the data that is becoming available, see its potential and realize how they can make use of it to run their businesses better, make better decisions and identify new opportunities.
However, I do not believe that this opportunity lies in taking data from open data sources and locking it behind pay walls. On the contrary, I believe that the opportunity lies in making it as freely and easily available to everybody as is utterly possible. I believe that it’s not only possible to do that and still run a successful, commercial service; in my mind, a commitment to keeping open data truly open is a vital part of the strategy. Let me explain how.
Data that is already open and available for free elsewhere will still be open and free for everyone on DataMarket, just easier to search, compare, download and analyze in a single place. That way, we believe we’re adding substantial value to the original data sources for free. As we add more and more data, users will find more and more of the data they need in this single place. We hope this will build a substantial, happy audience.

You’ll need to register for access. A free account includes:

• Find and visualize any public data
• Compare and combine data sets
• Link events to time series
• Export data
• Save and share your findings

Direct to DataMarket.com

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Data Files, Patrons and Users, Resources