About the Catalogue Open Source Project

The B.C. Data Catalogue is powered by CKAN open source software.  The B.C. Government participates in this software project, sharing developments with a community of international users.

Developed by the non-profit Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) for the Government of the United Kingdom, CKAN is by governments at all levels around the world, including the Government of Canada, the B.C. Government and some B.C. local governments.

The OKFN provides CKAN software under special license. The license requires those who deploy the software to the web to share their code modifications, revisions and contributions back to the community under the same license terms.

The B.C. Government shares its CKAN code modifications back to the community on GitHub. Shared enhancements include a data dictionary, linkages to web mapping applications, and integration of the Government of Canada’s open source Web Experience Toolkit, that provides responsive design and multi-lingual and accessibility features. It is hoped that the developer community finds these contributions valuable.

Choosing CKAN places the B.C. Government in good company. More than 115 governments and institutions around the world use CKAN as their data catalogues and because code enhancements are shared, everyone using the software benefit from creating a better product at a lower cost to individual users.  Community knowledge is another advantage of this project: GitHub, mailing lists, IRC channels and forums connect a vibrant community of over 100 CKAN global developers. This developer community has helped customize and implement CKAN software to meet B.C.'s needs.