Open Data Quality - The Next Shift In Open Data?

Quality (granularity / error margin / updates) also depends on the application, especially when there are important thresholds or cut-off points:

  • for most purposes, it does not really matter if a municipality has 49 950 or 50 050 inhabitants. However, in Belgium it has a huge impact on local politics, because a municipality with 50 001 inhabitants suddenly has the right to appoint more City Council Members, and the mayor and the deputies earn a lot more
  • it probably doesn’t matter if it’s 28 or 31 degrees outside, unless there are labor rules demanding certain actions from employers (or not allowing to work at all) when the temperature is 30 degrees
  • maps from a month ago are fine for driving to most places, unless you happen to visit a city that completely changed its mobility plan with one-way streets, speed limits and car free zones
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