Data Store
The London Datastore is a free and open data-sharing portal where anyone can access data relating to the capital. Whether you’re a citizen, business owner, researcher or developer, the site provides over 700 datasets to help you understand the city and develop solutions to London’s problems
Open data
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.
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.
Impacts
The London Datastore has been created by the Greater London Authority (GLA) as a first step towards freeing London’s data. We want everyone to be able access the data that the GLA and other public sector organisations hold, and to use that data however they see fit – for free. The GLA is committed to using its connections and influence to request other public sector organisations into releasing their data here too.
Releasing data though is just half the battle. Raw data often doesn’t tell you anything until it has been presented in a meaningful way and most people don’t have the tools to do this. That’s why we’re keen for you to visualise or build apps from the data available on the site.
