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Publishing and Managing Data

Last updated on October 4, 2023

Government ministries and some broader public sector agencies publish their data and resources in the BC Data Catalogue. This data is available for use to make informed decisions and create opportunities for the benefit of all British Columbians. Catalogued “data” is broad and includes raw data, applications and web services.

Open the BC Data Catalogue

Become a data provider

A data provider is someone who creates and manages metadata as well as data that may be stored directly in the Catalogue. This roles is usually someone who works for an organization but could be extended to others if they are stewards on their behalf.

 

How to become a provider to the Catalogue?

To become a Provider Editor/publisher for a sub-organization (a Branch or Division), one needs the sub-organization to exist or be created and grants applied to your account.

To start please log into the Catalogue or ask those that you will request access on behalf of to login. This will populate the Catalogue with all your contact details.

Then to request a grant to your account please open a ticket with the Data Systems & Services request system.

  • Requests can be made for yourself or on behalf of others.
  • Stewards, or staff in other organizations may also be editors on behalf of an organization.

In this request we ask for the following information:

  • Subject: “BCDC Account” + additional details - will aid for quick triaging.
  • Full name and email
  • IDIR
    • This can be a user IDIR or a Service IDIR.
    • A Service IDIR may be ideal for the maintenance workflow to script against the Catalogue API.
  • Name of the Ministry or if a Broader Public Sector.
  • Name of your Branch/Division - this is usually the level associated with an ED or Director.
  • Approval from the Data Custodian (Director or Executive Director).

Data Licencing options

There are three data licencing options for data published data in the BC Data Catalogue

 

What does each of the licences mean?

Crown Copyright:

Crown copyright is a form of copyright claim used by the governments of a number of Commonwealth realms. It provides special copyright rules for the Crown, i.e. government departments and (generally) state entities - Wikipedia.

  • All BC Government owner data fall under Crown Copyright, even if also under the Open Data Licence - British Columbia.
  • You can find information about Crown Copyright on this BC Government website.

Open Data:

“Open Data is the idea that some data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control” - Wikipedia

  • It is recommended to publish data under an Open Government Licence, where possible, as it is much more permissive.

Options:

  1. Access Only:
    • For the reproduction of materials found in the BC Data Catalogue, either a licence agreement (as specified in the BC Data Catalogue) will apply, or the materials are "Access Only" and reproduction is not permitted without written permission.
    • To request permission, please complete the Copyright Permission Request Form.
      • If a licence agreement applies, permission is subject to the terms of the specified licence.
  2. Open Government Licence - British Columbia
    • ​Review the Open Information and Open Data Policy and the Open Government Licence - British Columbia (OGL-BC) to ensure the licence is correct for the needs of the business and data. A dataset must
      • Contain no personal information.
      • Be under the intellectual property of the Province.
      • Not be under any legal, contractual or policy constraints.
      • Be publicly releasable.
      • Not be for sale.
      • Have at least one dataset available in an open format.
      • Have a published metadata record in the BC Data Catalogue.
  3. Open Government Licence - (other)
    • Broader Public Sector (BPS) agencies are required to create their own licence but are welcome to publish data in the BC Data Catalogue (BCDC). 

Creating and managing metadata records

Metadata is data or information which describes some aspect of data listed within the BC Data Catalogue. Examples of metadata components include the following:
  • the purpose of the data
  • which licence the data is under
  • who can use the data
  • how to get access to the data (if applicable)

The following resources are available to help you create and manage your metadata records and resources in the Catalogue:

Managing metadata resources

The resources provide additional information about the data such as how to access, format and location of the resource. Datasets can have many resources and can be defined as the following types:

  • Geographic Data
  • Document/Tabular Data
  • Webservice/API
  • Application

Learn more about:

Need more help or have feedback?

For technical support using the Catalogue, please email nrmenquiries@gov.bc.ca.

If you have general questions or wish to provide feedback, please open a ticket with the Data Systems & Services request system