"Open Data" is data that is made freely available for anyone to access, use, and share. For a full definition, see the Open Data Handbook.
In theory, you should be able to use open data in any way you wish - but always check the data licence to be sure! Some open licenses include clauses requiring attribution, sharealike, or non-commercial uses only.
Browse a list of open data licences here.
You'll find a few key sources listed under each of the tabs above. Many of the sources include both numeric and geospatial data files.
Some widely-used generalist (i.e. not discipline-specific) data repositories for various types of research data include:
For more information about these and other research data repositories, see 'Share Your Data' in the KPU Research Data Management guide!
No. It's true that most data files produced by Statistics Canada are now freely available to the public through the Statcan website. The Public-Use Microdata Files (PUMF's) can also be freely downloaded from the Abacus Open Data collection.
However, some of Statistics Canada's data files are not openly available. Kwantlen users can access some of these additional data files thanks to our membership in Statistics Canada's Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). The DLI also provides a portal you can use to run basic analyses on the PUMF's, called the Statistics Canada Rich Data Services (RDS).
The DLI collection includes a variety of different data products, which are accessed in different ways and are subject to different licences. Please see the table below for a brief overview of the main parts of the collection. More detail on each will be added soon.
| File Type | How to Access Files | Data Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Public-Use Microdata Files (PUMFs) Samples taken from StatCan survey master files and processed to ensure anonymity |
Or contact the KPU Data Librarian for help! |
Statistics Canada Open Licence |
| Postal Code Conversion Files (PCCF & PCCF+) | Contact KPU Data Librarian | PCCF Licence |
| Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) | Contact KPU Data Librarian | SPSD/M Licence |
|
Discharge Abstracts Database (DAD) |
Contact KPU Data Librarian | DAD Licence |
| Selected custom data tabulations If shared by the person/organization who paid for the custom tabulation from StatCan |
(Note: some custom tabulations are posted by the purchaser in data repositories such as Borealis) |
Statistics Canada Open Licence |
