Helsinki Region Infoshare opens up public databases

Helsinki Region Infoshare, a joint project by the four cities of the Helsinki Region, opens up regional public databases: statistical information on Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen will be available for citizens, corporations, universities, research institutes and municipal administration free of charge.

The project is implemented by Forum Virium Helsinki, a network that promotes the development and application of digital services in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The databases now opened up by the Helsinki Region Infoshare project have so far been available only to the cities’ management and staff.

The databases will be available through a new portal. The project encourages application developers to utilize the databases to build, for example, new web applications.

The project will be implemented over the next 2.5 years. A test version of the portal will be launched in the beginning of 2011, and by the end of 2012 the portal will include a broad range of public databases.

By opening up their databases, the Helsinki Region Infoshare cities wish to increase their citizens’ understanding of the development of the cities and to improve opportunities for citizen participation through transparency. Open and easy availability of regional information can create new services and business in the region, and it can boost research and development activities.

One important forum for new web applications of public databases is the second Apps4Finland (“applications for democracy, Finland”) contest to be held this summer. The contest is aimed at finding new ways to utilize public databases. 

Information on Apps4Finland (in Finnish)