{"id":211,"date":"2025-12-10T12:42:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T17:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/using-open-data\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:11:22","slug":"using-open-data","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/using-open-data\/","title":{"raw":"Using Open Data","rendered":"Using Open Data"},"content":{"raw":"Research can generate open data, but it can also make use of existing open data. In fact, working with other open data can be a great lesson in learning what makes for a good open workflow in terms of its description, discoverability, and licensing. Now that we have looked at why open data is valuable and the process for making your own data open, let\u2019s take a look at situations in which others\u2019 open data can provide learning opportunities.\n<h2>Open Data in Government<\/h2>\nGovernment-collected data are increasingly being made available and may compliment personally collected data. The core idea behind open government data is a simple one: public data should be a shared resource. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/opendatabarometer.org\/?_year=2017&amp;indicator=ODB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Open Data Barometer<\/a>, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and South Korea are the leaders in making open data available and accessible. Examples of the types of government generated data that can be accessed to support discovery and research include:\n<ul>\n \t<li>Map data (such as that of the cities of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surrey.ca\/services-payments\/online-services\/maps-cosmos\">Surrey<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.ca\/your-government\/data-and-maps.aspx\">Vancouver<\/a> in British Columbia, Canada)<\/li>\n \t<li>Land ownership data<\/li>\n \t<li>Census data<\/li>\n \t<li>Budgets<\/li>\n \t<li>Legislation<\/li>\n \t<li>Transit data<\/li>\n \t<li>Crime statistics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nEnsuring government accountability, coordinating action to improve society, and bootstrapping new business ideas can all benefit from access to government data. Yet far too often there are unnecessary technical and legal restrictions that prevent data re-use. Calls for a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.undatarevolution.org\/\">data revolution<\/a>\u00a0are placing renewed attention on ensuring the collection and management of high-quality data around the world, and are driving a focus on the use of \u2018big data\u2019 resources in policymaking. Against this backdrop, ensuring citizens have the capability and freedom to create, access, and analyze data about their own communities is so important.\n<h2>Using Open Data to Work on Real-World Problems<\/h2>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spaceappschallenge.org\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The NASA Space Apps Challenge<\/a> is one example of a governmental agency using open data to work with stakeholders and specialists across various fields and disciplines to come up with innovative solutions to the world\u2019s most pressing issues.\n\nIn October, 2021, 5,000 participants in 150 countries worked to solve <a href=\"https:\/\/2021.spaceappschallenge.org\/challenges\/statements\/covid-19-calculate-the-risk\/details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">COVID-19 related challenges<\/a> using NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA, and CNES space agency data. Participants used open and international open data to evaluate the effectiveness of a country\u2019s public health measures by comparing the number of COVID-19 cases and infection rates. Through their data analysis, the participants were then able to develop recommendations to help minimize the negative impacts of the pandemic on a global and national scale.\n<h3>Discovering Exoplanets<\/h3>\nNASA\u2019s Citizen Science projects provide an opportunity anyone to access NASA data and contribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zooniverse.org\/projects\/marckuchner\/planet-patrol\">finding planet candidates from the TESS mission<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zooniverse.org\/projects\/marckuchner\/backyard-worlds-planet-9\">look for brown dwarfs and planets<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/citizen-science\/exoplanet-watch\/\">support detection of exoplanets<\/a>. Non-expert volunteers worldwide have contributed to thousands of important discoveries.\n<h3>Training the Researchers of the Future with Open Data<\/h3>\nWith the increasing availability of open data, teachers can plan learning activities using real data, without having to leave the classroom. Using open data in teaching helps to make scientific organizations more transparent, further provides evidence that public money is well spent, and demonstrates scientific knowledge use for society. Open data also affords opportunities for teaching researchers to connect\u00a0and share experiences, data, and activities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learntechlib.org\/p\/161986\/\">Javiera Atenas et al (2015) \u201cidentifies a set of core, discipline-agnostic competencies\u201d<\/a> that they believe students can acquire using open data sets.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n \t<li><strong>Critical thinking<\/strong>: Students can understand, verify data, and develop evidence-based arguments across different disciplines.<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Data curation skills<\/strong>: Students can analyze data and present complex reports<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Research skills<\/strong>: Students can compare data from multiple sources and replicate the research<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Statistical literacies<\/strong>: Students can perform statistical operations<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Teamwork skills<\/strong>: Students learn skills to help them collaborate in multidisciplinary research teams<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Global citizenship<\/strong>: Students can critically evaluate and use data to solve local and global challenges<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nOne example of instructors using open data for course assignments comes from Math 210 at the University of British Columbia:\n\nAs a course assignment, students found an open dataset online, used pandas (a tool for analyses and data manipulation) to explore the dataset, and wrote a Jupyter notebook (a sharable document) to present their work. Students chose the subject and the open data-set with the requirement that the dataset must be open, meaning that the readers of their notebook should be able to find the data online and recreate the analysis.\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 100%;height: 120px\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 120px\">\n<td style=\"width: 85%;height: 120px\">\n<h5>Dig Deeper<\/h5>\nExplore open datasets:\n<ul>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca\/\">British Columbia Government Open Data<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/opendata.vancouver.ca\/pages\/home\/\">City of Vancouver<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oad.simmons.edu\/oadwiki\/Data_repositories\">Discipline specific data repositories<\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/\">Open Data resources from the World Bank<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%;height: 120px\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2593\/2025\/11\/Dig-Deeper-2-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Adaptation Statement<\/h1>\n<small>Sections of text on this page were adapted from the World Wide Web Foundation, Open Data Barometer Global Report (Second Edition), 2015, licensed under a CC-BY 4.0 License <\/small>","rendered":"<p>Research can generate open data, but it can also make use of existing open data. In fact, working with other open data can be a great lesson in learning what makes for a good open workflow in terms of its description, discoverability, and licensing. Now that we have looked at why open data is valuable and the process for making your own data open, let\u2019s take a look at situations in which others\u2019 open data can provide learning opportunities.<\/p>\n<h2>Open Data in Government<\/h2>\n<p>Government-collected data are increasingly being made available and may compliment personally collected data. The core idea behind open government data is a simple one: public data should be a shared resource. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/opendatabarometer.org\/?_year=2017&amp;indicator=ODB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Open Data Barometer<\/a>, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and South Korea are the leaders in making open data available and accessible. Examples of the types of government generated data that can be accessed to support discovery and research include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Map data (such as that of the cities of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surrey.ca\/services-payments\/online-services\/maps-cosmos\">Surrey<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/vancouver.ca\/your-government\/data-and-maps.aspx\">Vancouver<\/a> in British Columbia, Canada)<\/li>\n<li>Land ownership data<\/li>\n<li>Census data<\/li>\n<li>Budgets<\/li>\n<li>Legislation<\/li>\n<li>Transit data<\/li>\n<li>Crime statistics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ensuring government accountability, coordinating action to improve society, and bootstrapping new business ideas can all benefit from access to government data. Yet far too often there are unnecessary technical and legal restrictions that prevent data re-use. Calls for a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.undatarevolution.org\/\">data revolution<\/a>\u00a0are placing renewed attention on ensuring the collection and management of high-quality data around the world, and are driving a focus on the use of \u2018big data\u2019 resources in policymaking. Against this backdrop, ensuring citizens have the capability and freedom to create, access, and analyze data about their own communities is so important.<\/p>\n<h2>Using Open Data to Work on Real-World Problems<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spaceappschallenge.org\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The NASA Space Apps Challenge<\/a> is one example of a governmental agency using open data to work with stakeholders and specialists across various fields and disciplines to come up with innovative solutions to the world\u2019s most pressing issues.<\/p>\n<p>In October, 2021, 5,000 participants in 150 countries worked to solve <a href=\"https:\/\/2021.spaceappschallenge.org\/challenges\/statements\/covid-19-calculate-the-risk\/details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">COVID-19 related challenges<\/a> using NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA, and CNES space agency data. Participants used open and international open data to evaluate the effectiveness of a country\u2019s public health measures by comparing the number of COVID-19 cases and infection rates. Through their data analysis, the participants were then able to develop recommendations to help minimize the negative impacts of the pandemic on a global and national scale.<\/p>\n<h3>Discovering Exoplanets<\/h3>\n<p>NASA\u2019s Citizen Science projects provide an opportunity anyone to access NASA data and contribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zooniverse.org\/projects\/marckuchner\/planet-patrol\">finding planet candidates from the TESS mission<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zooniverse.org\/projects\/marckuchner\/backyard-worlds-planet-9\">look for brown dwarfs and planets<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/citizen-science\/exoplanet-watch\/\">support detection of exoplanets<\/a>. Non-expert volunteers worldwide have contributed to thousands of important discoveries.<\/p>\n<h3>Training the Researchers of the Future with Open Data<\/h3>\n<p>With the increasing availability of open data, teachers can plan learning activities using real data, without having to leave the classroom. Using open data in teaching helps to make scientific organizations more transparent, further provides evidence that public money is well spent, and demonstrates scientific knowledge use for society. Open data also affords opportunities for teaching researchers to connect\u00a0and share experiences, data, and activities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learntechlib.org\/p\/161986\/\">Javiera Atenas et al (2015) \u201cidentifies a set of core, discipline-agnostic competencies\u201d<\/a> that they believe students can acquire using open data sets.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Critical thinking<\/strong>: Students can understand, verify data, and develop evidence-based arguments across different disciplines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data curation skills<\/strong>: Students can analyze data and present complex reports<\/li>\n<li><strong>Research skills<\/strong>: Students can compare data from multiple sources and replicate the research<\/li>\n<li><strong>Statistical literacies<\/strong>: Students can perform statistical operations<\/li>\n<li><strong>Teamwork skills<\/strong>: Students learn skills to help them collaborate in multidisciplinary research teams<\/li>\n<li><strong>Global citizenship<\/strong>: Students can critically evaluate and use data to solve local and global challenges<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One example of instructors using open data for course assignments comes from Math 210 at the University of British Columbia:<\/p>\n<p>As a course assignment, students found an open dataset online, used pandas (a tool for analyses and data manipulation) to explore the dataset, and wrote a Jupyter notebook (a sharable document) to present their work. Students chose the subject and the open data-set with the requirement that the dataset must be open, meaning that the readers of their notebook should be able to find the data online and recreate the analysis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 100%;height: 120px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 120px\">\n<td style=\"width: 85%;height: 120px\">\n<h5>Dig Deeper<\/h5>\n<p>Explore open datasets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca\/\">British Columbia Government Open Data<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/opendata.vancouver.ca\/pages\/home\/\">City of Vancouver<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oad.simmons.edu\/oadwiki\/Data_repositories\">Discipline specific data repositories<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/\">Open Data resources from the World Bank<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%;height: 120px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2593\/2025\/11\/Dig-Deeper-2-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2593\/2025\/11\/Dig-Deeper-2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2593\/2025\/11\/Dig-Deeper-2-65x64.png 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Adaptation Statement<\/h1>\n<p><small>Sections of text on this page were adapted from the World Wide Web Foundation, Open Data Barometer Global Report (Second Edition), 2015, licensed under a CC-BY 4.0 License <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1076,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-211","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":202,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/211\/revisions\/212"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/202"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/211\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}