Ajman Open Data

Source in English: ESCWA-OECD Case Study - Ajman Open Data, UAE

Ajman Open Data Portal is the official Data Portal of the Government of Ajman, displaying free data sets in different formats published from 9 different entities in the emirate, covering 8 main topics/subjects (Business and Industry, Economic and Finance, Environment, Health Well-being and Care, Housing, Leisure and Culture, Public Order Justice and Rights, Transport and Infrastructure).

Ajman Data Portal published datasets can be used and reused by everyone to benefit from such as application developers, start-ups, researchers, decision makers, business owners and developers.

Contributors

• Government and Semi-government entities whom are the main stakeholders of the project. These are all Nine local entities in the Emirate of Ajman.
• University students were engaged through Hackathons and other individual initiatives to come up with different mobile applications, solutions, and researches using the available open datasets.
• Collaborated with Ajman University and other companies to provide training on open data to spread open data culture among Data Ambassadors and Ajman Government Leaders and employees.

Purpose

To build a strong and reliable data portal that includes growing numbers of government open datasets while trying to engage private sector as well to publish open data sets. Create success stories from sharing open data with the community and driving innovative economic opportunities to the Emirate.

Outcomes

• Published 400+ open datasets in several formats, while APIs are also available for live data users. 
• Developed Ajman Business Map that display business distribution based on economic activity and geographic location.
• Provides access to real-time business movement which is automatically linked to the licensing database 
• Developed the Ajman Live Meter displaying live data for the public to monitor

Lessons Learned

• Use top-to-bottom and bottom-up approaches to foster the culture of data openness in governments
• Leadership engagement is essential
• Communication is important to ensure stakeholders’ buy in
• Create success stories and promote it to spread the culture awareness of data sharing
• Collaborate with Universities (Hackathons, Applications development by
• university students, researches) to find solutions
• Grow as you go. Don’t aim to start BIG at the beginning.
• Maintain impactful & effective communication to increase the number of datasets.
• Create motivation and incentives to build the culture of open data so that it becomes part of everyday life and culture.