Global News | Open Data Project

Global News
Open Data Project

In 2011, GlobalNews.ca dramatically increased the number of requests made across Canada under Freedom of Information laws. Moving forward, we will be releasing more articles and interactive features based on analysis of this data.

We see this type of journalism as an important public service. So we're happy to confirm that we're 'open-sourcing' the data used to create our reports. As much as possible, one to two days after publication, we'll make the datasets we used available here.

We're hoping this can be the beginning of a partnership. Please feel free to use the data, all we ask in return is that if you do publish something, that you provide a link back to this page on GlobalNews.ca. And be sure to let us know what you find by emailing us at tips@globalnews.ca or on Twitter: @globaltvnews.

Open data: US border seizures

Download and explore Global News' data on US border seizures.

Toronto water mains

Download the location of every water main break in Toronto since 1990.

Birth date totals for ON, AB, BC, NS

An annual baby boomlet in mid-late September, leads to the conclusion that there is a spike in successful conceptions in the weeks around Christmas. We see the same pattern in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and B.C. The data is taken from birth registrations in each province.

Vancouver dog licence database

Using an access-to-information request, Global News obtained records showing the breed, name and postal code of all of Vancouver’s 27,166 licenced dogs, and our analysis gives a unique insight into urban life.

Ontario impaired driving data

Ontario criminal impaired driving convictions by forward sortation area, June 2010-June 2011, with the base number of licenced drivers by forward sortation area.

First Nations drinking water data

On October 31, 2011, one out of five First Nations communities had a drinking water advisory. Download the data here.

CBSA seizures database

Drugs, knives and guns - download our database of CBSA seizures.

Toronto dogs: Download the data

Using an access-to-information request, Global News obtained records showing the breed, name and postal code of all of Toronto’s 71,984 licenced dogs. You can download and work with the data.

Manitoba bed bug data

In Manitoba, most bed bug complaints come from downtown Winnipeg, in particular the Spence neighbourhood.

Toronto parking ticket database

A look at 2.8 million Toronto parking tickets written in 2010 shows that enforcement concentrates on institutions like colleges, universities and, especially, hospitals.

Ontario distracted driving convictions by postal code, June 2010-June 2011

This data set is built on Ontario Ministry of Transportation records of about 29,000 distracted driving convictions over a one-year period from June 2010 to June 2011 broken down by the first three characters of the drivers’ home postal codes, calculated as a rate against the total licenced drivers by postal code. We got the data, as usual, though FOI.