Qld govt launches open-data site

The Queensland government has launched a new open-data website, which will collate data from each of its departments for use by the public.

"The website includes a range of information, from community grants funding to TransLink network schedules and public transport-user customer complaints," Premier Campbell Newman said.

"There are also things like British convict registers, so there is something for everyone."

However, a cursory glance over the site shows that there are many data-set categories with zero entries. These include construction and housing, finances, and sciences.

During the site's trial period, it had just 20 data sets. This has been expanded to 73 for its launch, but it still lags behind other eastern coastal states, which have more established services. NSW has a little over 100 data sets available, while Victoria has over 220.

Queensland's departments will be required to release their own open-data strategies by April next year to plot how they will continue to deliver data to the site.

State statutory bodies are also included on the rollout schedule to have their own strategies in place by October 2013.

"Our open-data scheme is about providing a level of access to information across the government that has never been seen in Queensland before," Newman said.

The state government will perform a review of the service in December 2013 to determine whether it is delivering on its objectives.