Open data in the United States

In the 1970s the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began releasing weather information, which could now be called "open data".{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=10}}

After Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a Boeing 747 carrying 269 people, was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace,{{cite web|url=http://www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m.pl?icao/en/trivia/kal_flight_007.htm |title=ICAO Completes Fact-Finding Investigation |publisher=International Civil Aviation Organization |access-date=September 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517005421/http://www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m.pl?icao%2Fen%2Ftrivia%2Fkal_flight_007.htm |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }} in the vicinity of Sakhalin and Moneron Islands, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making the United States Global Positioning System of Air Force Space Command, freely available for civilian use, once it was sufficiently developed, as a common good.{{cite news |url=http://www.america.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=February&x=20060203125928lcnirellep0.5061609 |title=United States Updates Global Positioning System Technology |publisher=america.gov |date=February 3, 2006}} During the presidency of Bill Clinton the data actually was made available for public use.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=26}}

Industry collects, processes, and resells open data from the United States government.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=24}} United States government weather data is the base of an industry which generates {{USD|30}} billion annually.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=24}}{{cite web|author1=National Weather Service|author2=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|authorlink1=National Weather Service|authorlink2=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|title=Value of a Weather-ready Nation|url=http://www.ppi.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/PPI-Weather-Econ-Stats-10-13-11.pdf|access-date=19 December 2014|date=13 October 2011}}{{cite web |url= http://www.informationdiet.com/blog/read/how-did-weather-data-get-opened |title=How Did Weather Data Get Opened |first=Clay |last=Johnson |authorlink=Clay Johnson (technologist) |work=informationdiet.com |date=9 August 2010 |access-date=19 December 2014}}{{cite journal|last1=Spiegler|first1=David B.|title=COMMUNITY: The Private Sector In Meteorology - An Update|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|volume=88|issue=8|year=2007|pages=1272–1275|issn=0003-0007|doi=10.1175/BAMS-88-8-1272}} GPS data is the base of an industry estimated to generate {{USD|90}} billion annually.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=24}}{{cite web |url= http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-kick-start-innovaton/ |title=How to Kick-Start Innovation with Free Data |first=Philip |last=Yam |work=scientificamerican.com |date=23 March 2013 |access-date=19 December 2014}} Vivek Kundra noted that "Zillow is valued at over $1 billion, the Weather Channel was sold for approximately $3.5 billion in 2008, and Garmin has a market cap of $7.24 billion. These are all companies that were built using raw government data."{{cite web|last1=Kundra|first1=Vivek|authorlink1=Vivek Kundra|title=Digital Fuel of the 21st Century: Innovation through Open Data and the Network Effect|url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/publications/papers/discussion_papers/d70_kundra.pdf|website=John F. Kennedy School of Government|publisher=Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy|date=Autumn 2011}}

{{Wikisource|1=Executive Order 13642|2=Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information}}

File:2013 Open Data Policy - Managing Information as an Asset.pdf

In May 2013 Barack Obama issued an executive order which established the Open Data Policy along with a memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget which supported that policy. These policies were developed as a way to promote economic growth and create jobs.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=9}} They were guided by precedents and policies of the Sunlight Foundation and Open Knowledge.{{sfn|Gurin|2014|p=10}} The Sunlight Foundation said at the establishment of the policy that it "certainly appears to be the strongest index and audit requirement" that the organization had seen.{{cite web |url= http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/05/13/how-unique-is-the-new-u-s-open-data-policy/ |title=How Unique is the New U.S. Open Data Policy? - Sunlight Foundation Blog |first1=Laurenellen |last1=McCann |first2=Júlia |last2=Keserű |work=sunlightfoundation.com |date=13 May 2013 |access-date=28 January 2015}}

The government published this policy on GitHub.{{cite web |url= https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/09/white-house-drafts-official-open-data-policy-of-the-united-states-on-github/ |title=White House drafts official Open Data Policy of the United States ... on GitHub |first=John |last=Koetsier |work=venturebeat.com |date=9 May 2013|access-date=28 January 2015}}

{{main|data.gov}}

data.gov is a U.S. government website launched in late May 2009 by the then Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the United States, Vivek Kundra.

According to its website, "The purpose of data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government."{{cite web|url=http://www.data.gov/about | title=About data.gov |access-date=2011-08-21 }} The site seeks to become "a repository for all the information the government collects". The site would publish to the public any data that is not private or restricted for national security reasons.{{cite web|url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/the-nations-new-chief-information-officer-speaks/ |title=The Nation's New Chief Information Officer Speaks |access-date=2009-04-30 |last=Hansell |first=Saul |date=2009-03-05 |work=The New York Times }}

• Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States
• Copyright status of works by subnational governments of the United States
• Public.Resource.Org
• Freedom of Information Act
• Open data in the United Kingdom

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Gurin|first1=Joel|title=Open data now : the secret to hot startups, smart investing, savvy marketing, and fast innovation|date=2014|publisher=McGraw Hill Education|location=New York|isbn=978-0-07-182977-9}}

• [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/open Open Government Initiative] at the White House
• [https://project-open-data.cio.gov/ Project Open Data] at the office of the Federal Chief Information Officer of the United States
• [https://www.data.gov/ data.gov] data.gov, "the home of the U.S. Government’s open data"

{{Open data navbox}}

Category:Open data by location

Category:Open government in the United States