Open Knowledge

Save the date! March 1-7, 2025

Open Data Day (ODD) is an annual celebration of open data all over the world. Groups from likely every country create local events on the day where they will use open data in their communities. ODD is maintained and supported by the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) through the Open Knowledge Network.

As a way to increase the representation of different cultures, since 2023 we offer the opportunity for organisations to host an Open Data Day event on the best date within a one-week period.

All outputs are open for everyone to use and re-use.

Thematic Focus: Open Data to Tackle the Polycrisis

We are still working with our communities to refine the theme for Open Data Day 2025.

Each year, the theme is deliberately broad to accommodate the most diverse practices and perspectives of working with open data for the public interest. In 2025, we want to address some of the most pressing issues of our time and go beyond climate justice. That's why we're developing the theme around the concept of polycrisis, and more specifically the intersections between poverty and multiple inequalities, violence and conflict, and climate and disaster response.

Open Data Day is for everyone!

If you have an idea for using open data, want to find an interesting project to contribute towards, learn about how to visualise or analyse data or simply want to see what's happening, then come participate!

Participation is a core value of Open Data Day, everyone is free to voice their opinions in a constructive manner. No matter your skill-set or interests, we are encouraging organisers to foster opportunities for you to learn and help the global open data community grow.

Event Resources

Need some inspiration for an Open Data Day event, or don't know where to find the data you need? Check out our event resources.

Resources

Materials

Create a logo for the event in your city using the official logo!

Ideas and data sources

Hey there open data enthusiast! You just saw that Open Data Day will be from 2-8 March 2024 and you're interested in hosting an event in your locality? Your only challenge now is finding the idea that will hit the right spot. Our friends from the open data community have some ideas and data sources worth checking out.

Visit the CKAN website to discover all the organisations around the world using CKAN to publish their data.

Use data.world to upload or find data from many sources and organise all aspects of a project - including data, notebooks, analysis and discussions - in a single workspace.

If you have data but don't know where to put it, you can use DataHub. You can publish datasets, search for relevant data, browse thematic data collections and request help with your open data publishing.

Environmental data

To discover environmental or climate data to use or get inspiration from for your Open Data Day event: visit the ResourceWatch.org site, a World Resources Institute data portal; explore NASA's open data website; head to geoportal.org for earth observation data; or discover forest cover/loss data with Global Forest Watch.

If you want information on disaster risk management or resilience to natural hazards for your event, visit the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery Labs or Open Data for Resilience Initiative websites to discover tools and projects or find open data and resources to use via the Open Cities Africa project, Think Hazard, OpenDRI Index and Risk Data Library.

OpenOil, Extract-a-Fact and the Open Data Charter's OpenUp guide to climate data may also provide useful guidance and advice.

Tracking public money flows

The Open Contracting Partnership and Hivos' Open Up Contracting websites provide lots of guidance and examples for people looking to do Open Data Day events focused on public procurement and spending. See also: the Open Data Charter guide to using open data to combat corruption.

Open mapping

Find out more about open mapping via the Mapbox, OpenStreetMap and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap websites.

Data for equal development

The Centre for Humanitarian Data has over 17,000 humanitarian open datasets available via the CKAN-powered portal at data.humdata.org which may help to highlight key issues about equal development. You can also visit the United Nations' Open SDG Data Hub, the World Bank Open Data portal or the large data harvesting portals like the European Data Portal.

Ocean data for a thriving planet

General ocean data portals include EMODNet and the Pacific Data Hub. For oceanographic data - seafloor maps, temperatures, currents - try the International Oceanographic Data Exchange and Schmidt Ocean Institute. For data on ocean wildlife try the Ocean Biological Information System the Global Biological Information System and the Ocean Tracking Network. Global Fishing Watch focuses on fishing, especially on the high seas and Marine Traffic shows all kinds of vessels.

Your event deserves a boost

Every year, together with different supporting partners, the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) offers small financial contributions in the form of mini-grants to help promote in-person events around the world. Stay tuned to our social media channels and our newsletter to find out when the next call opens (usually in January).

In 2024, a total of 26 grants were offered in two calls (one general and the other focused on open mapping) thanks to the kind support of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Jokkolabs Banjul, Open Knowledge Germany, Datopian, and Link Digital.

Meet the 2024 winners
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