It is hard enough for government departments to put their data on the web, let alone when they have to worry about what format to put the data into. Therefore, the most common format ends up being PDF reports which are not usable for a citizen looking to make actionable insights for the greater good. Analysts have their own set of needs regarding what format they need the data in - some may prefer Excel data, whereas others may have a need for JSON or CSV data.
Unlocked solves this problem by standardising all data into one format and storing it in a centralised repository. Public servants upload all their data through one interface, and don't need to worry about any technicalities. Users can then access the data through a neat visual interface, choose any part of the data they want, pick any format they want the data to be turned into, and then download that format of the data.
This creates the first ever standardised body of government data that users of all different levels of technical expertise can access and use. Very technical users can access JSON and CSV data that they need for their analysis, whereas less technical users can easily access PDF and XLS outputs from the web application without needing to do any tricky conversion.
Unlockd is built on open source software. We have used the following components: