Singapore announced the release of more data and its intension to make all datasets on data.gov.sg and OneMap machine-readable by the end of 2013, with an eye on driving social innovation and co-creation.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, described Open Data as a new way of thinking in the country’s e-government journey. “By opening up more data, and through innovative use of technology, we can crowd-source ideas and co-create applications with the wider community”.

The move to make all public datasets on data.gov.sg and OneMap machine-readable will enable developers and researchers to use and analysis data more conveniently. Currently, 50 per cent of these datasets is machine-readable.

Data.gov.sg is a one-stop data portal with 8600 datasets from 60 public agencies, currently. Since its launch in 2011, the portal has seen a 60 per cent increase in number of datasets.

OneMap, a geospatial data sharing platform, has 60 different map themes currently. The latest addition to the set of tools on OneMap is PopulationQuery, developed by the Department of Statistics and Singapore Land Authority. The tool allows the user to spatially represent various kinds of population data on a map.

There are currently more than 100 apps developed using government data by the private sector and community groups. These range from apps on car park availability to clean public toilets and street cats.

The Minister shared, “To better harness the transformative power of data, we will adopt a two-pronged strategy as part of our new Open Data philosophy”.

“Internally within Government, cross-agency data-sharing will be much more pervasive. It will raise our productivity in Government, and improve decision-making.

“Outside Government, we will proactively share more data. This will encourage more feedback, as well as research and analysis on issues of public concern. It can also create opportunities for innovation and new solutions, potentially improving the everyday lives of Singaporeans”.

He added, “Fundamentally, a Whole-of-Government mindset must underpin all our e-Government initiatives - we have to adopt a collaborative mindset, break down agency silos and strive to provide seamless service delivery for our customers”.

Future moves under the Open Data initiative include the release of data-sharing principles to guide government agencies in sharing their data and co-creating with the public. Additionally, the Traffic Police is to share more detailed data on road accidents, the Ministry of National Development is to map past rental transactions, and the National Environment Agency is to release new data on lightning.