{"id":718,"date":"2019-07-04T10:29:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T09:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/statistics\/?p=718"},"modified":"2019-07-08T09:08:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T08:08:08","slug":"statistics-gov-scot%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aour-open-data-resource","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/statistics\/2019\/07\/04\/statistics-gov-scot%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8aour-open-data-resource\/","title":{"rendered":"Statistics.gov.scot\u200a\u2014\u200aour open data resource"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sarah Roberts, Swirrl<\/p>\n

Whether you want to understand a community or make decisions backed up by evidence, data helps. Open data that can be shared, combined, downloaded or used to build tools off is even better! In this post, I interview Liam Cavin, from the Scottish Government, about freely available data you can use right now at statistics.gov.scot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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statistics.gov.scot:<\/a> over 250 freely available collections of open data<\/em><\/p>\n

Hi Liam. Please can you tell us what statistics.gov.scot is and what it contains?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes of course. It\u2019s a data portal\u200a\u2014\u200aa store of information that describes Scotland and the areas and communities within Scotland. It contains over 250 collections of information (our datasets<\/a>) which you can link to, share, download or use to make something with. The data on the platform is mostly official statistics: that is, statistical information published by the Scottish Government, government agencies such as the NHS, and in some cases from UK central government departments. It isn\u2019t personal information; it preserves individual anonymity because it\u2019s aggregated.<\/p>\n

The idea behind it is that access to good quality information lets us understand the communities we live in and lets us make decisions backed up by evidence. It contributes to our overarching aim, which is to help people make decisions informed by high quality data: saving time, money and lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are lots of ways to get to the data . The Atlas<\/a> section lets you find data by place.<\/em><\/p>\n

Who\u2018s using the data, and what are they using it for?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our data portal has a wide range of users. One of the key things you can do with it is to look up and find information about a place and that accounts for a lot of use. The Atlas section<\/a> on the site allows you to look at an individual place, find out where it is and how it relates to other areas in Scotland. So, if you\u2019re looking at a local community you can find out which local authority it\u2019s in, which health board covers it and how many people live there. Atlas webpages about areas in Scotland come with area profile tables, which are a handy collection of key facts about places.<\/p>\n

But the site can be used for more than that because it allows people to really get into detailed data. A few examples are:<\/p>\n