The Knowledge Centre Open Data focuses on one of the most promising policies promoting the accessibility of data: open data policies. The research focuses on the governance of open data, its societal and economic impact, and the legal restrictions on or conditions for implementing and utilizing open data policies.

Vast amounts of data are constantly collected and processed in response to specific user needs. Nevertheless, much geo-data can also be used for other objectives, with little or no need to re-collect or reprocess it. Since the sharing of geo-data is considered to be in the general interests of society as a whole, there is an overall drive to increase the sharing by improving access, removing technical, legal and financial barriers, and devising appropriate organizational structures without forgetting the possible consequences for the freedom and privacy of individuals. In other words: the research aims to stimulate the organizational and legal interoperability of geo-data; that is, the legal, organizational, semantic and technical interoperability in interrelation to each other and the political context in which they are developing.

The research of the Knowledge Centre is part of the Urban data science section of the Department of Urbanism within the Faculty of Architecture and The Built Environment.