Open data is data that anyone can access, use and share. Open data becomes usable when made available in a common, machine-readable format. Open data must be licensed. Its licence must permit people to use the data in any way they want, including transforming, combining and sharing it with others, even commercially. Any restrictions imposed on the use of open data will limit its potential for creating new value.
Limitations: For data to be open, it should have no limitations that prevent it from being used in any particular way. Anyone should be free to use, modify, combine and share the data, even commercially
Cost: Open data must be free to use, but this does not mean that it must be free to access. There is often a cost to creating, maintaining and publishing usable data. Ideally, any fee for accessing open data should be no more than the reasonable reproduction cost of the unit of data that is requested. This reproduction cost tends to be negligible for many datasets. Live data and big data can incur ongoing costs related to reliable service provision.
Reuse: Once the user has the data, they are free to use, reuse and redistribute it – even commercially. Open data is measured by what it can be used for, not by how it is made available. Aspects like format, structure and machine readability all make data more usable, and should all be carefully considered. However, these do not make the data more open.
FAIR vs Open Data: FAIR data is not the same as open data. For example, it is not always possible to grant free access to data for economic and legal reasons. Restrictions on access are compatible with FAIR principles, as long as the conditions and ways of access are evident.
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Since we use material from the European Commissions [data.europa.eu e-learning programme], which is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License we have to publish this section What is Open Data under
