Zurich Cantonal Government decides on a cantonal OGD offering

On 26 November, the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich decided to set up a cantonal offering of open government data. This concerns “data holdings of the public administration that are made openly accessible in the public interest, and insofar as they are not subject to any protective provision, for free re-use and in machine-readable form (Open Government Data).“ The Canton of Zurich is thus the first canton to promote Open Government Data (OGD) with its own Government Council decision based on the OGD strategy adopted by the Federal Council in April 2014 (see chapter 3 of the decision). Access to the government data of the Canton of Zurich is to be expanded in line with the Swiss OGD Strategy 2014–2018 and the potential of OGD realised step by step. For publishing the data, the Canton of Zurich intends to continue using the Confederation’s OGD portal (see chapter 5.2 of the decision) and to work actively with OGD users, i.e. the community (see chapter 4.4 of the decision). The Canton of Zurich is thereby sending a clear signal to the Confederation to continue the successfully piloted cooperation on OGD, and is showing the other cantons the prospects of a pragmatic path to OGD.

Opendata.ch welcomes the decision of the Government Council and will support its consistent implementation in word and deed. Beyond that, we are already looking at the next cantons – from Basel to Chur, from St. Gallen to Geneva, the time is ripe for Open Data. Dr Peppino Giarritta, head of the E-Government Staff Unit of the Canton of Zurich, is also pleased about these positive developments: “As the person responsible for e-government in the Canton of Zurich, it is important to me that government services keep pace with technological and social developments. Open Government Data, i.e. freely usable government data, has great economic and social potential, opens up new opportunities for the administration and creates trust. This still requires persuasion. With its decision to set up an OGD offering, the canton is taking an important first step.“