About

Ballarat Open Data

Ballarat Open Data is a community-based data sharing platform for the Ballarat region. It provides access and integration of a range of datasets published by a variety of local organisations and community groups. Most datasets are open and freely available for search, download in open-source formats and reuse as a community service. By bringing together datasets focused on Ballarat and facilitating exchanges across different organisations and group,s this project aims to foster new forms of digital innovation, collaboration and business and research opportunities.

On this platform you can search a wide range of datasets by theme, keyword and organisation. Most datasets are available for download within the platform in a variety of common open-source formats including a CKAN API for developers. It is a core principle of this project that data and data ownership is retained by the original creators/custodians therefore some datasets with more sensitive content may have access control specified by the data providers with contact information.

In addition to data access and searches, Ballarat Open Data provides a number of information dashboards, interactive portals and data stories using the available open datasets. This includes dynamic and live data feeds of smart devices and sensors from the new LoraWAN network installed throughout the City as part of the broader Ballarat Smart Cities and Suburb. These applications are provided as a resource for key use-cases of community interest and a showcase of the potential of open data. If you have been involved in a project or application that has used open data from this platform that you would like us to highlight, we would love to hear from you (contact us).

Data Sources and Licences

Datasets in Ballarat Open data are maintained and owned by the provider organisations. Licences for each specific dataset are included in the meta data listing. The vast majority of these are published under a Creative Commons 3 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/) allowing open sharing and reuse with attribution.

Project Funding and Partners

Ballarat Open Data is an outcome of the Ballarat Smart Cities and Suburbs project which is a collaboration of the City of Ballarat and Federation University. Funding for this project was contributed by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources as part of the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. Other project partners include Ballarat Hackspace and Meshed.