Exchanging Data (MIM3)

This repository contains the development version of the Open & Agile Smart Cities' development version of the Exchanging Data Minimum Interoperability Mechanisms.

Open & Agile Smart Cities is a global network that assists local administrations of all sizes in their digital transformation.

Minimal Interoperability Mechanism are vendor-neutral and technology-agnostic mechanisms to help enable a minimal but sufficient level of interoperability for data, systems, and services.

This Minimal Interoperability Mechanism is about Accessing Data. It helps facilitate the ways data can be accessed, once data sets are discovered and agreements are in place.

Each Minimal Interoperability Mechanism is composed of:

• Objective

• Capabilities and Requirements

• Mechanisms

• Interoperability Guidance

• Conformance and Compliance Testing

For more information on how to contribute and how decisions are made, please see CONTRIBUTING.md and GOVERNANCE.md.

Introduction

Data is the lifeblood of urban innovation. Many cities and communities are now leveraging data to make better decisions about prioritising scarce public funding, improving service delivery to their citizens, and improving the overall quality of life in the city. Increasingly relevant data is not only sourced and shared across different city departments but also exchanged with external organisations to improve local innovation capacity and to access critical information not available in-house.

Over the past decade or more, many cities and communities used open data initiatives or ad-hoc data sharing agreements to advance data use and sharing across their organisation and with relevant stakeholders. However, they find these approaches are no longer sufficient. Publishing data openly on a public data portal does not suit the many types of sensitive data (e.g., commercial or personal data) cities and communities are now working with. Bespoke bilateral data sharing agreements are cumbersome to agree, set up and maintain, and do not scale well. As the diversity and complexity of data collaborations grow, cities and communities need to find more differentiated ways of data sharing.

Cities and communities are now exploring new ways of managing their local data ecosystem. This includes ensuring that:

• data is discoverable in a local data ecosystem, no matter what parties the data comes from or what systems it resides on

• data is accessible in a local data ecosystem to all parties who are entitled to access the data.

• data is adequately permissioned in a local data ecosystem, so that parties using the data are fully aware of what they can or cannot do with it.

• data and its exchange can be trusted in a local data ecosystem. This includes both trust in the data provided as part of a data exchange and trust in the parties participating in the exchange.

The MIM3 working group aims to help cities and communities create common guidelines that make data sharing and collaboration more effective in a local data ecosystem.

It tackles the challenges of how data can be stewarded and used across diverse systems of different organisations into a common data ecosystem that enables data providers and users to exchange data in a trusted way with confidence and derive value from it. It also aims to ensure that interactions related to data exchange in different local data ecosystems of other cities and communities are interoperable.

Glossary of terms

Data	Information encoded in a structured or unstructured format, suitable for processing, analysis, or storage
Data source	The origin from which data is generated or collected, such as devices, systems, applications, or external entities
Data asset	A distinct unit of data made available for use, which may take the form of a static dataset, a real-time data stream, or any other structured or unstructured data format.
Dataset	A collection of related data, typically organised in a structured format such as tables, files, or records.
Data stream	A continuous flow of data records generated over time, typically delivered in real-time or near real-time through a protocol or API, enabling ongoing processing or analysis as data is received.
Data provider	An entity that generates, collects, or curates data and makes it available for use by others.
Data user	An individual or system that accesses and utilises data for analysis, decision-making, or service delivery.
Data ecosystem	A coordinated environment of stakeholders, technologies, policies, and processes that enable the collection, sharing, management, and use of data across organisational or sectoral boundaries.
Data ecosystem orchestrator	The organisation or entity responsible for governing, coordinating, and maintaining the overall functioning of the data ecosystem.
Data rights owner	The legal or contractual holder of rights over the data. This entity determines how the data can be used, shared, or monetised, and is ultimately responsible for its governance and compliance.
Data ecosystem administrator	An entity or role responsible for the operational management of a data ecosystem, including user access control, system configuration, data catalogue maintenance, monitoring, and enforcement of governance policies.