A lack of data quality is one of the barriers preventing administrations from opening their data, experts said during the Open Belgium 2015 conference on February 23.

During a roundtable, which brought together federal and regional government officials in Belgium (from the Brussels, Walloon and Flemish governments), everyone noted that data quality was always mentioned by civil services as ‘an excuse’ for not publishing their data. For example, Noël Van Herreweghe, Program Manager for Open Data for the Flemish Government said that he needs to convince local administrations that opening data will provide them with significant advantages in the long run. But many civil servants are reluctant to open up their data because “they are unsure about the quality of this data”. He also explained that the lack of an Open Culture in Flanders is a problem when asking administrations to publish data.

François du Mortier, who represents the region of Brussels, also said that data quality is the main brake for Open Data, even if “there are some systems that can partially solve this problem”.

During the panel, data protection and privacy were also cited as a barrier for Open Data. Liège University Rector Bernard Rentier said that researchers are a barrier in the academic world because, for them, opening data is considered ‘theft’ of their property. He said that he finds it difficult to make Open Data understandable. Others experts said that administrations think that costs have to be supported for Open Data, adding that the main challenge is to “minimise this burden”.

Too many licences for a small number of datasets

This conference also revealed that Belgium has not implemented a clearly defined Open Data policy and has “no clear vision”, Michiel Mentens, an advisor to the Federal Government said. Despite Open Data portals in the regions, the number of available datasets is limited. According to him, 1 725 datasets have currently been published in Belgium (1 539 by the Flemish administration, 348 by the Brussels Region and only 88 in Wallonia).

Among the challenges that need to be met, he mentioned the multiplicity of licences under which data are published. If Brussels region uses one type of licence, Wallonia uses 6. The Flemish Government publishes data under 4 different types of licences. “We need to build a framework,”Mentens said.