Linköping University: Linked open data in Sweden - Portal and national statistics

Linked open data in Sweden - Portal and national statistics

LOD-Sweden is a project financed through a grant from Vinnova. The project will start on August 20th 2012 and end on December 21st the same year. Project partners are Statistics Sweden (SCB), Linköping University, Malmö högskola, and Metasolutions AB. The project leader is Eva Blomqvist, Linköping University.

Abstract. This project aims to promote the form of open data that is referred to as linked open data. This is done through two complementary aims: (1) to establish a central datasource in Sweden that can act as a hub for other initiatives around linked data in Sweden, and (2) to establish a Swedish web portal concerned with linked open data, containing information about Swedish linked open datasets as well as explanations of what linked data is and how to publish linked datasets. The dataset we will publish is a classification database from SCB (Statistiska centralbyrån - Statistics Sweden), which contains a large amount of classification concepts that are used within the statistical data published by SCB. Such a datasource constitutes a huge value, since it can contribute to the linking of previously unrelated datasets (not explicitly referring to each other) but that become linked by all referring to this central 'hub'. The primary advantages of publishing data as linked data are (i) increased data interoperability, (ii) that data is prepared and ready for uses that are not foreseen at design-time, and (iii) that data is published in formats that enable automatic (machine) access and utilization of data. We believe that this new paradigm, i.e. linked open data, has the potential to revolutionize the way we view open data and how open data will be published in Sweden in the future.

For more information about the project see the Swedish webpages or contact Eva Blomqvist.