The state capital Dresden makes a wealth of administrative data available free of charge and freely accessible via a so-called open data portal. The "Open Data for Citizens, Business and Administration" project aims to help optimize the portal and reach more people. A research team from the TU Dresden has now presented the results of a survey on user behavior.
Users value active engagement with open data
According to the questionnaire-based online survey from the Faculty of Business and Economics (TU Dresden), enjoying working with data is a strong motivation for Dresdeners to use the city's open data portal. Research into the user perspective provides the administration with important indicators.
This makes it clear that there is a public interest in active engagement with open data that goes beyond pure information. Interactive gamification elements that playfully demonstrate the connections and added value of the datasets and interfaces for integrating data into open source projects would be incentives to get citizens interested in the portal.
Open data portal Dresden creates transparency
For the survey participants who identified themselves as non-users, the transparency of municipal data and the awareness that open data is generally available were relevant. Accordingly, the inclusion of the portal in municipal communication, for example by publishing information on political events in the city, could draw the attention of interested parties to the portal.
Cooperation with research: analyses and measures
The research team at the TU Dresden is working with the municipal statistics office Dresden to analyze the value creation potential of the open data portal Dresden. Based on surveys and best practice examples, barriers are to be broken down and support offered.
There are plans to develop a chatbot that users without specific data expertise can use to ask questions and "talk" directly to the data in the portal. In addition, the open data portal is to be brought more into the public eye in order to reach previous non-users within Dresdenthrough appealing communication of the offerings, e.g. apps based on open data.
Once completed, the solutions will also be available to other local authorities as open source applications in line with the Smart City Dresden model project.
What is the open data portal Dresden?
Which districts of Dresdenare particularly bicycle and pedestrian friendly? What are the results of the latest municipal citizen survey? Where can I find playgrounds in the city? The open data portal Dresden has been providing this information and many statistics, including volume values on inner-city streets, since 2019. The administration of the state capital wants to make its collected and processed data - provided it is not personal or confidential - available to the public so that it can be accessed and used individually.
This makes Dresden one of the pioneers in Germany. In February 2025, an analysis of German cities by the Berlin-based consulting firm Finatycs showed that the state capital publishes the third most data records (1,117) after Hamburg and Berlin.