Open data is the idea that data should be available free of charge for anyone to use. While the basic concept has a long history, it is only with the advent of the internet that large data sets can be effectivly shared. With the growing popularity of the concept of open data the government has begun to establish specific open data resources to make data sets available to the public.
Additionally many government websites and databases that have been around for years fall under the defenition of open data (data produced by the US federal government has always been free of copyright restrictions and free to anyone to reuse).Many of the other resources on this LibGuide will qualify as "open data" resources. Other governments are also beginning to establish open data repositories, noteably the United Kingdom with data.gov.uk.
This page will fuction as a listing of open data resources from the United States and other government around the world.
US Federal Government Open Data Resources.
"Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more." Data.gov is a centralized resource for open data sets created by entities of the United States government.
A project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climate.gov is an example of a government resource developed to provide access to a wide variety of data on a specific topic, the climate of planet Earth.