About
What is NiagaraOpenData.ca?
NiagaraOpenData.ca provides a single point of access to data from organizations across Niagara, Ontario, simplifying your search.
Our hosting organizations include local municipalities, educational institutions, community groups and non-profits, whom all support the common goal of increasing openness, transparency, and access to data within the Niagara region. Through opening their data, our partners aspire to increase citizen participation in government, create opportunities for economic development, drive innovation and inform decision making in both private and public sectors.
The NiagaraOpenData catalogue
The Niagara Open Data catalogue is built upon the open-source CKAN catalogue platform, version 2.9, and uses openly developed CKAN extensions to provide you with enhanced access to the data hosted with us.
Changes made to the base CKAN catalogue, theme and the extensions used to provide you with the NiagaraOpenData.ca experience can be accessed on the Niagara Open Data Catalogue GitHub Repo.
All enhancements were developed by our partners at OpenGovGear Inc.
How we operate
We owe our success to our publishing and extended community members, who take on the tasks of preparing and publishing the data you have access. Operating under a consortium model, each of our partners have a say in the operation and direction of NiagaraOpenData.ca.
Visit the Our Community Partners page to learn more about our partners and the operations of the Niagara Open Data Community Consortium.
Our history
Prior to the launch of NiagaraOpenData.ca, the amount of organizational data opened to the public was limited to a handful of datasets scattered across a few independent catalogues. The demand for openness and data was growing in Niagara, so in 2015 several of our community lead put their minds to work to redefine how data could be accessed across the Niagara region.
In June 2016, NiagaraOpenData.ca launched with 191 dataset, published by 8 organization:
- Niagara Region
- City of Niagara Falls
- City of Welland
- City of St. Catharines
- Town of Grimsby
- Town of Lincoln
- Brock University
- Niagara Connects
In 2024, we launched an update to the NiagaraOpenData.ca catalogue with the objective of providing our users with access to more information about the data hosted with us, and improving how our community engages with us and us with them.
New features on NiagaraOpenData.ca
To achieve the objectives for the new NiagaraOpenData experience, the following items were improved or added to the catalogue:
Extended Metadata
New fields were added to our default data schema to assists in determining the currency of the data and further define the data’s content.
Integrated data dictionary and visualization
Enhanced visualization and integrated data dictionary, allow you to assess and preview the data prior to obtaining a copy.
Notification banner
To keep you informed about status the catalogue and opportunities where you can engage with us, we have built in a banner that will appear when we have important information to share with you.
Contact and Data Request upgrades
Reach out to us or any of our publishing organization with your question and data requests, which now can be tracked on the site.
User experience survey
Assist us in shaping future improvements to the catalogue and let us know about your NiagaraOpenData.ca experience. Look for the link to the survey at the bottom of the home page.
Report a data issues
Help improve the quality of the data we provide. If you encounter an issue with a dataset or our services, you can now report it using the ‘Report a data issue’ survey link located at the bottom of each dataset page.
For more information on these features see the related topics on our Understanding Open Data, Training Material and Help pages.
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