55 Free Open Data Sources You Should Know

Data is the modern engine of every process, businesses depend on it especially. Most companies collect information about their customers, their brands, marketing campaigns, social media info, and much more. But this data is primarily internal, accumulated in corporate databases, CRMs, ERP systems, and other sources. Analyzing this data helps to make more data-driven decisions, but much information lies outside the company. It’s open data, which is generated every minute, and the scope of it grows exponentially. Consequently, the number of sources from which you can extract data increases at an overwhelming pace as well. No wonder it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, there is too much information to comprehend.

Open data stems from external sources from all over the world. It varies ranging from government agencies’ datasets through financial institutions’ economic trend roundups to social media sentiment. Being publicly available and not restricted by copyright, patents, or other controls, this data type can be freely accessed, used, modified, and shared for whatever purposes. Thus, it can be effectively used for predictive analysis and forecasting, unveiling consumer patterns and trends, new opportunities for innovation discovery, and much more. It leads to economic growth, greater technological innovations, and enhanced socio-economic well-being.

As it’s clear from the above, there are certain typical attributes that open data is characterized with. It should be:

• Accessible – have a form which is easily accessed,
• Available – can be used freely by anyone,
• Reusable/Redistributive – allowed for republishing in other forms and formats,
• Interoperable – can be mixed with other data and datasets,
• Unrestricted – should not have restrictions on usage by any groups or purposes, allowed to be used for non-commercial as well as commercial purposes.

At present, you can get public data from hundreds or even thousands of online data sources, freely available to everyone who is connected to the internet. However, to extract reliable and trustworthy data you should choose globally authoritative and interesting sources while they are multifaceted. The best places to get data are open sources that cover many niches. Scraping such resources, you can get variable Big Data datasets for free, use them or share, depending on the aims you have.

Still, the process involves a succession of steps:

• First, you should find reliable sources, being scrapable websites,
• Then you need to extract data from them,
• Format it,
• Clean it up,
• and lastly, visualize it for insights.

Read also – Visual Data Representation: Importance, Techniques, Tools, and Google Data Visualization Software As it’s mentioned above, various sources cover variable data, so you should choose the ones to match your project and business needs at the current moment. To simplify your search and choice for reliable information, we’ve prepared a list of authoritative data sources broken down into categories.

At present, open data is already a means to make governments accountable. It helps to fight crime and prevent fraud, to get individuals from A to B, to maintain people’s health and to save their lives in natural disasters, and much more. What is more, businesses use publicly available data to create ground-breaking products and services, develop new business models, fill in the market gaps and gain a competitive edge, as well as identify new business opportunities and create benefits in various spheres – social, economic, environmental, etc. The agencies that offer consultancy services, extensively use open data in their work as well. They often turn to geospatial, demographic, transport, and environmental datasets at the same time using many more types of data but to a lesser degree. While the innovation may come from unlikely places, it’s difficult to predict where else you can use open data. With improved possibilities, innovations will increase. That’s why forward-thinking companies access publicly available data attempting to ask the right questions and to get the right answers.

These are publicly available arrays of information located on the Internet. They may contain information from government agencies, banks, educational centers, and collected data from law enforcement and health authorities.

Since this information is entirely open, anyone can view and use it. You need internet access, a device with a network connection, and a browser to view a web page containing the required data.

The collection and processing of data from open sources may require not only professional preparation but also software. Large volumes of data must be collected, cleaned of unnecessary information, and systematized properly. You will need special software or the help of professionals from DataOx.

The methods and approaches to data collection may be variable, and the choice depends on the specifics of your business and use case. As a rule, you can download open data in bulk, buy real-time open data APIs, feeds, and streams to download the most up-to-date information.

However, to be sure you get really relevant and up-to-date data in your business or niche, it’s better to hire experts in data scraping. It will help you get reliable data cleansed off the unnecessary mess with minimum effort on your part. With data delivery professionals, like DataOx you may be sure that your unique needs and data requirements will be met to the last detail. Schedule a free consultation with a DataOx expert to discuss details.