Posts By David Eaves

StatsCan’s free data costs $2M – a rant

So the other day a reader sent me an email pointing me to a story in iPolitics titled “StatsCan anticipates $2M loss from move to open data” and asked me what I thought. Frustrated, was my response. $2M is not a lot of money. Not in a federal budget of almost $200B. And, the numberRead… Read more »

Using Open Data to Map Vancouver’s Trees

This week, in preparation for the International Open Data Hackathon on Saturday, the Vancouver Parks Board shared one neighborhood of its tree inventory database (that I’ve uploaded to Buzzdata) so that we could at least see how it might be leveraged by citizens. What’s interesting is how valuable this data is already (and why itRead… Read more »

Statistics Canada Data to become OpenData – Background, Winners and Next Steps

As some of you learned last night, Embassy Magazine broke the story that all of Statistics Canada’s online data will not only be made free, but released under the Government of Canada’s Open Data License Agreement (updated and reviewed earlier this week) that allows for commercial re-use. This decision has been in the works forRead… Read more »

The Canadian Government’s New Web 2.0 Guidelines: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Yesterday, the government of Canada released its new Guidelines for external use of Web 2.0. For the 99.99% of you unfamiliar with what this is, it’s the guidelines (rules) that govern how, and when, public servants may use web 2.0 tools such as twitter and facebook. You, of course, likely work in organization that survivesRead… Read more »

The New Government of Canada Open Data License: The OGL by another name

Last week the Minister Clement issued a press release announcing some of the progress the government has made on its Open Government Initiatives. Three things caught my eye. First, it appears the government continues to revise its open data license with things continuing to trend in the right direction. As some of you will remember,Read… Read more »

If you are in Vancouver Vote Open Data, Vote Vision

If you are a Vancouver resident tomorrow is election day. I’m hoping if you are a resident and a reader of this blog, you’ll consider voting for Vision Vancouver. As many of you know just over two years ago the city launched Vancouver’s Open Data portal – the first of its kind in Canada andRead… Read more »

International Open Data Hackathon Updates and Apps

With the International Open Data Hackathon getting closer, I’m getting excited. There’s been a real expansion on the wiki of the number of cities where people are sometimes humbly, sometimes grandly, putting together events. I’m seeing Nairobi, Dublin, Sydney, Warsaw and Madrid as some of the cities with newly added information. Exciting! I’ve been thinkingRead… Read more »