Vienna, 14 November 2010

The 'red-green' coalition that has formed the new city government in Vienna has embraced open government data in their coalition agreement. On page 65 the coalition agreement (PDF, in German) reads:

"Following international examples of modernizing city government, a symposium will be organized, followed by a draft proposal written by an expert group, discussing and exploring the opportunities and possible risks of open data and open government in Vienna - i.e. the free access to public (non personal) data sets in both human and machine readable formats."

„Open Data“, „Open Government“

"Nach internationalen Vorbildern zur Modernisierung der Stadtverwaltung, wird ein Symposium veranstaltet und in weiterer Folge von einer ExpertInnen-Gruppe ein Konzept erstellt, das die Möglichkeiten und etwaige Risiken von „Open Data“ und „Open Government“ – also der freie Zugang zu bestimmten öffentlichen (nicht personenbezogenen) Daten in für Menschen und Maschinen lesbarer Form - für Wien erörtert."

This new plan stands in contrast to a recent decision by the Vienna city council to not allow access to public transport data, and seems to herald a change of direction. In an article by ORF, Klaus Werner-Lobo of the Green Party, who took part in negotiating the coalition agreement, foresees a step by step approach to opening up data in Vienna.

"There is data where everybody involved will say 'yes' immediately, bot also oder data sets where there will be objections". Steps are needed to remove the fear for risks that my live inside city government and city public bodies. The first step will be the exploration mentioned above.

The citizen initiative Open Government Data Austria is enthusiastic about the plans in Vienna, and eager to cooperate. "This creates expectations and raises hope for the theme of Open Data in Vienna. Hopefully the city of Vienna can now quickly follow international examples and establish a sustainable open data concept for our nations capital, as well as execute it."