Yukon now joins the other Canadian jurisdictions that have open data websites. The Government of Yukon open data website is how we provide a way for users to find, access and reuse our public datasets. This service brings all of the government's data together in one searchable website.
We have been working on developing our open data website for a couple of years. Creating this space for open data was a new endeavour for the government, even though we have made data available to the public on our websites for years.
How did we get started?
This open data project is driven by commitments set out in Minister Mostyn's mandate letter. In particular, we were looking for tools to:
- support economic diversification in the innovation, science and IT sectors;
- prepare amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to increase the amount of information available to Yukoners; and
- expand the number of services we provide online and reduce barriers to the public accessing government services.
We have a small team so we started out small. We reached out to departments and agencies that were already producing public data and we worked with them to develop a private beta site. Over the past year we have collected feedback from internal users, made adjustments and improvements to our processes and we’ve continued to add more datasets.
Access for everyone
The open data website is secure and private. It is accessible to people with disabilities and to people living in Yukon communities who don’t have access to fast internet. The site is in French and English and it is mobile friendly.
We are launching with:
- 1,200 published datasets.
- Over 4,000 available resource files
- Data on 18 topics
- Data from 7 government departments
- Powerful search engine
- Option for users to request new datasets
- Option for users to submit feedback so we can continue to improve the site
Growing the government’s open data website
Now the site has launched, we will monitor feedback and make improvements as we go.
We will work with government departments to identify more datasets we can add to the site. The public can also request datasets that interest them.
Tell us about your experience
Have you used our open data website? You can submit your feedback on the site or you can email our team at eservices@gov.yk.ca. We look forward to hearing about your experience.