The city's new Open Data Ottawa site, includes data sets on museums, pathways, outdoor rinks and other recreational facilities. The city's new Open Data Ottawa site, includes data sets on museums, pathways, outdoor rinks and other recreational facilities. (CBC)

The City of Ottawa hopes to spur new smartphone apps and other local innovations by making its data publicly available.

City council voted Wednesday to support the principle of making all municipal data available to the public in accessible formats, provided a given data set isn't protected by privacy laws.

The city has also launched its Open Data Ottawa site, releasing data sets on museums, pathways, outdoor rinks and other recreational facilities as a start, said a city news release.

A contest will be held this fall to encourage local residents to find and develop uses for the data. Council approved $50,000 Wednesday to fund contest prizes and incentives.

A city staff report said providing access to the information will allow entrepreneurs, academics, community groups and others to study the community and develop applications that use the data to "improve the community experience and stimulate economic growth."

A number of other Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, have already started their own open data programs.

Principles of open data

  1. Complete All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not subject to legal or otherwise valid privacy, security or privilege limitations.
  2. Primary Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
  3. Timely Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
  4. Accessible Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
  5. Machine processable Data is reasonably structured to allow automated processing.
  6. Non-discriminatory Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
  7. Non-proprietary Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.
  8. License-free Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed.”

Source: City of Ottawa report on open data