Blog 1: Celebrating London’s data story

This year we’re celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the London Datastore with a series of blogs on what we’ve learned about open data and data sharing. Over the coming weeks we’ll be looking back at what we’ve learned, and how important a role data has played in telling the story of what’s really happening for people in London — stories that might otherwise never be heard.

Over the last decade and a half the Datastore has evolved into a hub for a range of data products and services — including interactive maps, visualisations and dashboards on London’s housing, high streets, air quality, infrastructure and environment.

We’ve served millions of Londoners — describing what London is, and isn’t in all its diverse glory, helping to make the city a better place to live and work. That’s something we think is worth celebrating. It’s also a time to take stock of our origin, innovation, where we are now and what the future holds for data.

Thank you 

The London Datastore relies on its millions of users to explore its datasets, derive insights, and upload new data. Every user brings their experience, knowledge, and skills to build a better data community for London. So we wanted to say: THANK YOU!

A walk through time: the history of London’s data powerhouse 

The creation of the London Datastore was a pivotal moment in London’s data story. Over the years, the London Datastore has evolved alongside the dynamic needs of Londoners and its data community. Join us in celebrating the milestones that shaped London into the powerhouse that it is today.

The London Datastore’s milestones:

Blog series 

To celebrate our 15 years, we’re marking the occasion by sharing some of what we’ve learned. Over the coming weeks our data experts will share their lessons learned through a series of blogs — showing how we’ve turned London’s data to action and impact. Hopefully some of those lessons will help people like you with your data projects as well.

Our next 15 years 

We’re excited about the next 15 years — which kicks off this year with the first phase of the new Data for London platform — the Data for London Library. This will be the new place to search city data in one place, helping people find the right data faster.

We hope you’ll join us as we mark this 15-year anniversary through the months of March and April. So keep in touch with us and let’s celebrate! We invite you to take these four actions:

• Look out for our blog series: 15 years of the London Datastore – lessons learned – find them on our blog pages here.
• Sign up to our data newsletter.
• Follow us on LinkedIn.
• Follow us on BlueSky.