Open Government Data - position

From: S Moonesamy <sm+mu_at_elandsys.com>
Date: Fri, 29 May 2015 17:28:31 -0700

Hi Daniel,

At 04:22 29-05-2015, Daniel Laeng wrote:
>B) Suggested position to take on asking for a specific dataset
>
>- Exactly what data set do you want
>- Which government department holds this data
>- What would you do with the data
>- How would the country benefit from it being open

Thanks for the suggestion and for sharing your questions.

The most important datasets for me are the maps. The data is held by
the Ministry of Housing & Lands. I intend to use the maps for
visualisation. Those datasets are part of the score use for the
country's Open Data ranking.

I am also interested in getting access to to crime rates and road
accidents for mapping purposes. Those datasets are held by the
Statistics Mauritius. It is to get a better understanding of safety
in Mauritius.

The dataset about water levels in the different reservoirs is to
understand whether the water shortage is due to drought
conditions. The data is held by the Central Water Authority.

The dataset about the temperature, rainfall, and wind conditions is
to get information about the weather. The data is held by the
Meteorological Services.

The dataset about exchange rates is held by the Bank of
Mauritius. It is data which people look for when they are purchasing
a product priced in a foreign currency.

The dataset about consumer prices is held by the Consumer Affairs
Unit. It is useful when a person goes shopping as he/she can compare prices.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority collects
actual data rates and Internet performance received by Internet
users. It is supposed to enable consumers to know exactly the level
of service they are obtaining for the price they are paying.

The last question is relevant to your case. In my opinion, it is
premature to try and answer that question in all cases as it might
come out as academic or providing an excuse which people pretend to
believe. My position will be support requests for datasets if the
requester is being honest.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy
Received on Sat May 30 2015 - 00:29:01 PST