France launches its open data portal – data.gouv.fr

France has released the beta version of its open government data website, data.gouv.fr, Joinup reports.

Data.gouv.fr aims to foster collaboration and innovation and to increase government transparency by facilitating access to and the re-use of public sector information. The portal brings together data from many public agencies, including the French institute for statistics INSEE, most government ministries and several state-owned companies (e.g. French railway company SNCF).

Examples of the approximately 350,000 open data sets available on data.gouv.fr are a list of over 3,000 railway stations with geographical location, the geographical location of road accidents and a comprehensive list of books in Bibliothèque Nationale de France, France’s national library.

All data provided by the site may be freely used under the French Government’s Licence Ouverte/Open Licence.