London set for an information revolution
7 January 2010

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson today (Jan 7, 2010) fired the starting gun on an information revolution in the capital as he announced that City Hall is to release online, for the first time, huge realms of previously unavailable data for everyone to see and use free of charge. The information will be made available through the new ‘London Datastore’ website and is part of the Mayor’s ongoing campaign to boost transparency and accountability in the capital. The Datastore contains over 200 different sets of information.

Making the announcement the Mayor was joined by President Barack Obama’s Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer, NASA during a rare live web link up with the world’s largest electronics show, CES, in Las Vegas. Like the hugely successful ‘Apps for Democracy’ project in the United States this new website, the first of its kind in the UK, will give London’s software developers the chance to exploit, for free, the commercial value of the data and use it to create applications that will make life easier for everyone in the capital.

The Mayor also welcomed the announcement from Channel 4's 4iP fund that up to £200,000 would be made available to develop the most innovative ideas using data from the Datastore and other public data sets.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “The superb new London ‘Datastore’ will unleash valuable facts and figures that been languishing for far too long in the deepest recesses of City Hall. I firmly believe that access to information should not just be the preserve of institutions and a limited elite. Data belongs to the people particularly that held by the public sector and getting hold of it should not involve a complex routine of jumping through a series of ever decreasing hoops.

“The US has led the way on this idea of setting their data free for anyone - students, campaigners, software developers – to use. Now it’s time for Britain to get up to speed and I want London, as the greatest city in the UK, to be at the forefront of this revolution, that will not only increase democracy, but also provide a potential money-spinner for the city’s hugely important software development sector.”

Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Federal Chief Technology Officer said: “We applaud City Hall's bold advance into the exciting frontier of open government. Based on our experience with data.gov and other open government initiatives, I am certain that the London Datastore will foster greater trust in government among your citizens, stimulate excellence in public sector performance, and motivate British software innovators to develop programs that will add immensely to the value of government data sets.”

A prototype of the London Datastore is accessible from today at http://dataweb1.london.gov.uk/datastore

About 4iP

4iP (4 Innovation for the Public) is a significant new initiative designed to stimulate public service digital media across the UK. The 4iP Fund aims to deliver publicly valuable content and services on digital media platforms – this means supporting great ideas for websites, games and mobile services which help people improve their lives. The 4iP fund forms part of Channel 4’s Next on 4 strategic blueprint. Submissions for the London Datastore can be made to 4iP via its website, www.4ip.org.uk