For almost a year now, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research has been opening its public data on the first ministerial open data platform. It has partnered with OpenDataSoft to enhance its ambitious public open data program. OpenDataSoft technical performances have allowed the Ministry to take its French Open Data mission to a whole new level.

REUSING PUBLIC OPEN DATA

Today, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research’s Open Data portal gathers 25 datasets and 2.5 million lines of public data. These are available to everyone thanks to standard open formats (CSV, JSON and GeoJSON amongst others). In order to give its datasets visibility, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research has decided to use our Open Source widget library. ODS-Widgets allows anyone to easily create compelling content from data.

One of OpenDataSoft’s missions is to ensure that public open data can be both broadcast on a large scale and easily accessible to the general public. Thanks to our open API, public data can reach everyone who wishes it. Through interactive visualizations, end-users can also share and embed understandable open data.

Let’s take a look at the list of French universities that the Ministry of Higher Education and Research put together. This is a classic example of what a powerful tool our open source widgets can be: a dataset transformed into always-up-to-date content embedded on a webpage.

The dataset provides (amongst other fields):

• The names of all universities
• Addresses
• Social media accounts
• Legal status
• Geographical location
• Etc…

If the visitor wishes to select an area on the map, the list below will automatically sync up. On the other hand, if that same visitor now wishes to refine its search using filters, the map will only display the refined results.

Dynamic filtering of results

A similar use can also be found for PEPITE (specific entities helping students become innovative entrepreneurs).

OPENING THE MINISTRY PUBLICATIONS

To make its publications easier to look through, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research uses the search components of our Open Data technology. Through a dataset gathering publication titles, images and destination URLs, visitors can now browse through the list thanks to dynamic filtering.

Open Data doesn’t have to be restricted to mere spreadsheets anymore. It can now serve as the first point of entry to complex and rich content. Public Open Data then truly become open since they are findable and browsable by everyone.

Public Open Data in action.

MAPPING PUBLIC OPEN DATA

Born during the SDRIF hackathon, our Cartograph has swiftly evolved into a powerful tool. Cartograph allows users to cross-reference multiple datasets while easily controlling visualizations (heatmaps, pointers…). Enriched maps created with Cartograph can also be shared and embedded one any website within a few clicks. For example, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research enriches its datasets metadata with maps to give citizens extra context.

Embedded maps in metadata

VIRAL PUBLIC OPEN DATA

At last, as with every Open Data platform powered by OpenDataSoft, public open data can quickly become viral thanks to sharing and embedding native features. So far, several high-traffic websites have embedded the Ministry’s maps:

• Clubic Pro: Understand the new student-entrepreneur status
• Numerama: Student-Entrepreneur, an official status to create your startup

Interested in trying out OpenDataSoft? Give us a shout!