Data.govt.nz helps people discover and use open data; empowering decision making, and problem-solving for citizens and businesses.
Users can search for and download thousands of freely usable datasets released by New Zealand Government organisations, as well as finding out about how to use, release open data effectively.
Public sector agencies including (but not limited to) Central Government, Local Government, Crown Research Institutes and the Tertiary sector are able to adopt the free data.govt.nz catalogue service to release their open data for wide discoverability. Agencies may also reference their APIs, open source code and reports relating to the data they release on the service.
Data.govt.nz's catalogue is self-service and agencies are encouraged to apply for a Publisher Account.
Data.govt.nz is an All-of-Government service with ongoing technical development led by All of Government Services Delivery (AoGSD) at the Department of Internal Affairs, and content production led by Stats NZ.
For background information about the launch of this site see Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy's media release (4 November 2009).
In November 2011 data.govt.nz was independently reviewed by the former Director for Transparency and Digital Engagement for the UK Government.
The review concluded that while improvements could be made it "is a well designed and professional run website - more so than some of its international peers."
Read the final review report and response to the review
In June 2016, after evaluating options for a more internally supported data portal system, CKAN was selected and tested with users through beta.data.govt.nz.
Read the blog post about the new CKAN data portal
In April 2017, the new production version of the CKAN data catalogue alongside the main data.govt.nz information website was launched:
With the establishment of the Government Chief Data Steward at Stats NZ, as of 2018 the GCDO and GCDS now jointly make use of data.govt.nz as the "front-door" for all things data in government.
Read more about the codesign and partnership approach for data.govt.nz