Open data dissemination at Eurostat: State of the art

Abstract

Eurostat is charged with providing high-quality statistics for Europe, and the current information landscape is making it increasingly challenging to do so. This paper presents the Eurostat dissemination approach (including the traditional dissemination vectors), and thereafter proceeds to present the recent initiatives to make European statistics data and metadata available in the form of Linked Open Data (LOD). After presenting some of the main challenges for open data dissemination (complete reproducibility, availability of high-quality LOD, capacity to consume LOD and achieving meaningful mashups between official statistics LOD and other data sources), it concludes by noting the potential of LOD to foster transparency, reproducibility, collaboration, interdisciplinary research driving scientific advancements, and contributing to a broader understanding of complex scientific challenges.