York businesses given free access to newly launched data sharing site

York-based businesses have now been given access to a huge database consisting of information about public and private sectors within the city.

City of York Council has launched a new website that provides residents and businesses information about the city with an aim of building new solutions to a range of challenges such as those around sustainability, transport, energy and community engagement.

The new website, York Open Data, acts as a hub for businesses and organisations to publicly share their data so that anybody can connect to hundred’s of up-to-date, searchable data sets and use them to make a difference in their local area.

The site already has 250 initial datasets, which cover an array of topics such as council and city performance, community assets and individual business sectors in York, and aims to publish new datasets over the next few months.

A series of York Open Data events will be held over the spring and summer to bring together public, private and third sector organisations with the open data community and enthusiasts to spark new projects, create new products and improve services and the community. The first of these is taking place the evening of 20 April at the council’s West Offices.

The site, funded by an Innovate UK and NESTA grant and is run by the council, was created as part of the council’s continued commitment to being accountable, efficient and effective through publicly sharing as much of the information it has access to as possible.

Kersten England, chief executive of the council, launched the site at the recent LARIA (Local Area Research and Intelligence Association) Annual Conference, held in York.

He said: “The introduction of an Open Data Platform for the city means that information held on the city, by the city, can be used more effectively by individuals and companies when they’re trying to meet the needs of their customers and develop innovative solutions for some of York’s challenges.

“We’re committed to sharing as much of the data we have access to, as well as encouraging our public, private and third sector partners to share their information, so that decisions taken which affect this city’s future can be based on the maximum amount of evidence available at any one time”.

Ian Floyd, director of customer, business and support services responsible for Audit and Governance, said: “York Open Data gives the council further ability to release information in a structured fashion to help meet the various enquiries and requests that are received by the council about the data that it holds, as well as be a portal to meet the council’s responsibilities under the transparency code.”