Overview
The London Datastore currently hosts over 900 open datasets. These are datasets that are available for everyone to access, use and share for free. You can search for and access any of these open datasets without needing to sign up for a Datastore account.
Accessing data
Each dataset is a webpage that contains metadata and a collection of files (referred to as “resources”) that can be downloaded or previewed in your browser. At present the majority of the resources on the Datastore are XLS or CSV files, however you will also find datasets in a variety of other formats such as shapefiles for GIS analysis, PDF reports, and links to in-browser data tools that allow you to analyse the data visually and intuitively.
Additionally, not all resources are necessarily hosted on the Datastore itself. Some datasets simply contain a link to another source. The purpose of the Datastore is to improve the discoverability of London’s data – not necessarily to host all of it in one place.
Non-open data
The Datastore also includes data that isn’t open for everyone to use. Only selected users can find this data in the Datastore search and download files.
Gaining access to private or shared datasets requires the owner of the dataset to grant you permission. For them to be able to do this you will first need to sign up for a Datastore account.
Private datasets are usually created to share data with specific users for a specific project. Therefore an average user will not expect to use or know about any private datasets unless they are part of a specific project that is using the Datastore for data sharing.