MetG consultation an important step for open weather data

Now that Opendata.ch has anchored the topic of open government data on Switzerland’s political agenda, the task is to open up data sector by sector: transport, finance, research data and so on are where progress must now become tangible. This also includes the weather and climate sector, an area in which Open Data has long been established in other countries and has already produced highly innovative and successful companies there – the sale of climate.com for a billion being a case in point.

At the invitation of the Federal Council, Opendata.ch is therefore commenting in detail on the current consultation on the partial revision of the Federal Act on Meteorology and Climatology (MetG). In the association’s statement, Opendata.ch welcomes the establishment and extension of the Open Data principle and acknowledges its signal effect far beyond weather data.

Opendata.ch shares the assessment of the explanatory report on the consultation draft that exempting meteorological and climatological data from fees will have a positive impact on the economy and that consumers in particular will benefit from the broader range of services:  exempting weather data from fees will  very probably lead to greater value creation and thus also to a positive fiscal effect.

The association particularly welcomes the draft’s intention to compensate MeteoSwiss’s loss of revenue caused by the liberalisation of data  through the general federal budget:  this measure is central to a successful implementation of the draft and represents a strategic investment in the foundations of innovation  that will pay off for all actors, including the federal budget.

The draft, which if successful would be a veritable Open Data milestone, is based on a motion of the National Council’s Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy, which came about thanks to the intervention of National Councillor Christian Wasserfallen (FDP BE), a long-standing ally in the cause of data liberalisation.

We hope that the draft can be dealt with in Parliament as quickly as possible and that exempting weather data from fees will become a further milestone on the road to Open Government Data in Switzerland.

All further comments and suggestions from Opendata.ch can be found in our statement on the partial revision of the Federal Act on Meteorology and Climatology.

The future of Swiss weather data will surely also be a topic at our big annual event, Opendata.ch/2014 on 18.9 – take part and join the discussion!