News Archive

SA Police Reduce Costs Through Proactive Open Data

02 Jun 2015

Freedom of information access comes at a cost. In 2011-12 financial year the estimated costs of administering the Freedom of Information Act 1991 (SA) was reported to be $10.4 million (The Hon I.K.Hunter- Hansard 16/10/14). Records indicate 85% of Freedom of Information requests are released in full or partially released.

In 2014 SA Police released Expiation Notice System Data as open data on Data.SA.

Freedom of Information requests are received for expiation data from Members of Parliament and the media.  In 2014 it became clear that the volume of requests were rising.  These requests were often received at different times, requiring variations of the same data and significant time and resources expended to process individual requests.

The landscape has moved since the data was published.  In the first six months of 2014/2015, 31% of expiation data requests have been diverted directly to the Data.SA website. 

Moreover, recent evidence indicates major media users now understand datasets and are willing to manage data extraction themselves, and it is hoped there will be further reduction in applications moving forward. 

This will create a more informed community, as already demonstrated by several independent evidence based news articles, using government data to demonstrate Road Safety action by our police service.

Benefits to the  Government of South Australia has be realised through a reduction in FOI requests, particularly as  data is being refreshed quarterly and requestors can be directed to the published data.

We look forward to seeing the proactive release of FOI data from other agencies in the future.

Read a related story on how open data is being used:  'Why Police booked cyclists 22,000 times in the last four years'.

 

Our Top Datasets

25 May 2015

For the month of May 2015, the top 7 downloaded and viewed datasets are as follows:

View other Data.SA statistics by clicking on the below and download to csv for future reference.

  • Site usage statistics by Publisher
  • Site usage statistics by Dataset
  • General site statistics on browsers, operating systems, social, languages and country.

 

Open Data 500 Australia

20 May 2015

Are you using open government data? Make sure your opinion counts!

If you’re using any Australian Government data as part of your business operations, make sure you complete the Open Data 500 Australia.

The Open Data 500 Australia is the first comprehensive examination of the open government landscape in Australia. The Minister for Communications, the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP launched the study in March 2015, and is calling for industry participation in the study.
Participation in the study is beneficial for several reasons, including:

  • providing a basis for assessing the economic value of using open government data
  • identifying the ways you can reduce costs of accessing government data, including licencing, versioning and control costs
  • an opportunity to request types of data or particular government datasets that would be of value to your organisation if made public.

The Open Data 500 Australia will promote the availability and quality of open government data from all levels of Australian Government into the future. Make sure your opinion is included in this landmark study.

Visit:     www.opendata500.com/au
Email:   opendata@communications.gov.au
Twitter:  #OD500AU