Under the Data Big Bang project, the opening of government data was completed in 11 of the 36 high-priority areas last year, including data on municipal licenses and permits (in June); data on the coffers of the government (in July); construction data, real-time data on public water supplies and data on the prices of agro-fishery products (in November); and real estate market data and data on commercial districts (in December).
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Then, let’s take a closer look at the opening up of government data on the prices of agro-fishery products, mountain trails and national species.
Data on mountain trails, which helps 13 million mountain hikers navigate their way through mountains, and data on national species
If you go to the website (www.forest.go.kr) of the Korea Forest Service, you can obtain information on 21,000 kilometers of mountain trails of the nation’s 1,544 mountains and detailed information (e.g. names, heights, the origin of mountains, related stories, etc.) on 3,368 mountains.
You can also find information on national flora and fauna species. Information on approximately 4.47 million species, including 2.54 million plants, 1.81 million insects, 9,000 fungi and 4,000 wild animals, is available. Also available is detailed information on 534 plants - for example, the history, culture and edible, medicinal, and practical uses of plants). Photos of 534 medicinal plants are posted as well.
In South Korea, the number of people climbing a mountain at least once a year is roughly 32 million, of whom 13 million go mountaineering more than once a month. Since the introduction of a five-day work week system, Koreans have had more free time and the mountaineering population has increased with a jump in the number of female and elderly mountain climbers. Thus, demand for information on mountain trails and national flora and fauna species is likely to grow.
The Korea Forest Service (KFS), municipalities and the Korea National Park Service joined forces with the Ministry of Interior and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) and drew up standards for mountain trail management under the Data Big Bang project. Mountain trail data held by the KFS and municipalities was collected and standardized to enhance data usability. Also, the Korea National Arboretum (www.nature.go.kr) has been upgraded.
When the mountain trail data is connected to map services offered by portals like Naver and Daum, the public can easily make good use of the information. Furthermore, venture firms can develop new services based on the data, thereby creating revenue.
Korean startup Luga Outdoor is scheduled to launch an app called “LUGA,” which offers map services and recommends the most suitable trail for the user and popular trails by season and theme by combining Luga Outdoor’s analyses of big data, i.e. GPS information, with the open data on mountain trails.
The KFS plans to provide information on an additional 12,000 kilometers of mountain trails, bringing the total to 33,000 kilometers. By doing so, the KFS looks to make mountain climbing a safer leisure activity.
Smartization of 20-year-old data on agro-fishery products
If you visit the OGD portal (data.mafra.go.kr) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) or the Open Data Portal (data.go.kr), you can have access to information on the prices of major agro-fishery products at public wholesale markets, the places of origin and retail markets. In particular, about one billion pieces of information on the prices of agro-fishery products, auctioned at 35 public wholesale markets nationwide, are made open to the public.
Information on how much agro-fishery products sold for at auctions has accumulated in unstandardized form over the past two decades, so error rates were high. Under the Data Big Bang project, the raw data went through data refinement, quality control and standardization and was reborn as credible data based on open databases and open API services.
Venture firm Easy Farm, which has become the first firm to graft IT solutions onto agriculture, is realizing big data analytics in agriculture by offering a service based on detailed information on how much agro-fisher products sold for via auction at public wholesale markets.
In addition, there is a young farmer who has developed an app called “Farming,” which is a smart farming note. The Farming app is leading the smartization of agriculture as it allows users to search for detailed information on how much agricultural produce sold for via auction at public wholesale markets.
As such, more farmers, companies and individuals are creating revenue by capitalizing on the open data on agro-fishery products. To furnish data in a consistent and accurate manner, the South Korean government plans to expand the application of the standards for data on the prices of agro-fishery products to 35 public wholesale markets, the Korea agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, the Korea institute for Animal Products quality Evaluation, the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (Suhyup).
