Open Data Inside is back. Show what you build.

A useful map. A public-interest investigation. A tool that turns a complicated dataset into something anyone can understand. Open data is often doing important work behind the scenes. Open Data Inside puts it on the label.

We are relaunching Open Data Inside to make that work easier to discover—and easier to join. The idea is simple: when open data helps make something possible, let people see it.

A small badge with a bigger purpose

The project’s original badge launched in January 2015. Its purpose remains clear: give people and organisations using open data a recognisable way to show it. The renewed platform brings that idea together with a public ambassador directory and a route for submitting your own project.

Think about the distance between publishing a dataset and someone benefiting from it. Along the way are people cleaning it, explaining it, building applications, finding patterns, and asking better questions. Their work deserves to be visible. When reuse is visible, it becomes easier to explain why maintaining open data is worth the effort.

Open data has a story after the download. Let’s make that story visible.

Meet the renewed platform

The live site is available in English and German. You can search the ambassador directory, filter by areas such as research, civil society, public-sector work, and maps, then explore individual profiles. It is a place to find examples, connections, and an audience for your own work.

Browse with a question in mind. Who is using open data in a field close to yours? What kind of service could you build from a dataset you already know? Who might have solved a problem you are facing? A directory becomes useful when it helps one person find another.

Put your project on the map

The submission form asks for your organisation or project, website, contact details, a description of how you use open data, and a logo. New directory submissions are reviewed. The platform provides a badge for your website; its contact section is also a route for questions and reports of misuse.

1. Show the use. Explain which open data helps your project and what people can do with the result.
2. Show the source. Link to the original dataset and its licence wherever you explain your work.
3. Share the story. Add the badge where visitors can find it, and give them a reason to explore further.

Our invitation goes beyond adding an image to a footer. Help someone understand what is inside your product or service. A short explanation of the data you use can give the badge a much more useful role.

Why this matters in the age of AI

As AI becomes another way to encounter information, the path back to the data deserves more attention. An AI-generated summary can make a result easy to read while leaving its origins difficult to see. Teams building AI tools and agents can help by documenting sources, keeping attribution visible, and making it possible to check their claims.

An Open Data Inside badge signals the use of open data. It does not, by itself, establish that a dataset is accurate or that an AI system is reliable. The useful next step is the explanation behind it: what was used, under which terms, and how a person can inspect the work.

For Open Knowledge Austria’s new beginning, this is a practical place to start. Make reuse visible. Connect people. Give the next person something they can build on.

If open data is part of what you make, help the world see it.

Sources & further reading

The historical and project references behind this story.

• Open Data Inside · Platform
• Open Data Inside · Ambassador directory
• Open Data Inside · Submit a project
• Open Definition