The website is the mechanism through which all Welsh air quality data collected and managed by are made available to all data users. The website has undergone considerable enhancement is now INSPIRE compliant. This means that the AQ data can now be shared to both “human” users and automated machines and technologies.
The INSPIRE Directive requires public bodies to establish a range of web services (internet systems with a particular function) to publish spatial environment datasets. The services have three aims, which will:
- Allow datasets to be discoverable (Discovery Service) i.e. how to find the data. Air quality datasets are now expressed as data objects that can be discovered through the data catalogue at https://data.gov.uk/data/search and https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/data-catalogue
- Allow datasets to be visualised (View Service) i.e. how to see the data. Development of Web Mapping Services (WMS) to allow users to view and interrogate measurement stations and air quality data online
- Provide access to data content (Download Service). Data can be downloaded as traditional user interfaces with using SQL strings, or as bulk downloads using Atom Feeds or in near real time using Sensor Observation Services.
The open data services currently provided by the UK-AIR website achieve a 4 star Open Data “score” using Tim Berners Lee’s open data scoring matrix. Allowing AQ data to be opened up promotes interconnections between emerging technology communities.