Population census data in Croatia is provided in spreadsheet and without explicit geometric representation of its spatial units which makes it not directly usable in spatial analyses and data-based decision-making. This poses challenges for data interoperability and limits practical usefulness of census data. To overcome these limitations, this paper aims to propose ontology mapping schema to structure population contingents by age and sex in RDF and publish it as Linked Open Data using open-source data wrangling tool, OpenRefine. In line with Linked Data best practices, population data and spatial units’ geometries were modelled separately and linked through spatial unit’s URIs. Also, to ensure interoperability and enable broader integration, the schema reuses semantics from RDF Data Cube Vocabulary and GeoSPAQRL while the use of open technologies ensures that the resulting RDF triples are reproducible. This proposed ontology mapping schema represents a foundational step towards the publication of linked open census data in Croatia, paving the way for improved integration and reuse in the future.

An understanding of how modern Open Data Ecosystems (ODEs) work is critical in the context of current trends towards sustainability and smartness, while is seen to be an asset to support urban governance and development, in coordinating actions, and fostering civic engagement. This paper aims to establish such understanding by analyzing the contextual patterns, platforms, and components shaping sustainable ODEs by employing platform theory. This study explores and compares characteristics, similarities, differences, and best approaches in 19 cities across 8 countries. In this study we (1) identify 50 patterns that influence and shape sustainable ODEs and their platforms, i.e., Open Data Platform Ecosystems (ODPEs); (2) explore the relationships between platforms and other ODPEs components by developing a respective model, and identifying internal platforms and other components; (3) empirically validate the conceptual findings of five types of ODPEs presented in the literature, redefining them from the conceptual to real-life implementation of the respective components in sample cities; (4) considering the experience gained during the study with respect to the ODPEs and external pressures and environments that shape or influence them, we define 12 recommendations for policy planning and urban governance of more sustainable ODEs.

The study presented in this paper aims to contribute to the broader discourse on urban planning challenges by presenting a preliminary walkability assessment for the city of Zagreb, Croatia. Using the open-source OS-WALK-EU walkability assessment tool and open government and data from OSM, we demonstrated how data-based walkability assessment can provide information to support relevant policy making. The assessment considered two walkability user perspectives, one focused on enjoying free time and other on daily obligations (e.g. commuting to work). Preliminary findings indicate that walkability index scores are higher in the city centre and decrease towards the periphery for both user perspectives. Additionally, the results indicate that despite different user perspectives give different walkability scores, these are almost uniform across Zagreb, making all the assessed districts equally attractive for both, enjoying free time and do daily obligations.

There is a lack of understanding of the elements that constitute different types of value-adding public data ecosystems and how these elements form and shape the development of these ecosystems over time, which can lead to misguided efforts to develop future public data ecosystems. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) to explore how public data ecosystems have developed over time and (2) to identify the value-adding elements and formative characteristics of public data ecosystems. Using an exploratory retrospective analysis and a deductive approach, we systematically review 148 studies published between 1994 and 2023. Based on the results, this study presents a typology of public data ecosystems and develops a conceptual model of elements and formative characteristics that contribute most to value-adding public data ecosystems. Moreover, this study develops a conceptual model of the evolutionary generation of public data ecosystems represented by six generations that differ in terms of (a) components and relationships, (b) stakeholders, (c) actors and their roles, (d) data types, (e) processes and activities, and (f) data lifecycle phases. Finally, three avenues for a future research agenda are proposed. This study is relevant for practitioners suggesting what elements of public data ecosystems have the most potential to generate value and should thus be part of public data ecosystems. As a scientific contribution, this study integrates conceptual knowledge about the elements of public data ecosystems, the evolution of these ecosystems, defines a future research agenda, and thereby moves towards defining public data ecosystems of the new generation.

State-owned agricultural land is an asset that the state must manage in a responsible and transparent manner. Agricultural land is extremely important for farmers as it enables them to carry out agricultural activities. Due to its importance to farmers, it is often the subject of debate as stakeholders are often dissatisfied with the allocation and management of state-owned agricultural land. Qualitative research of the process of state agricultural land lease and the associated legislation in the Republic of Croatia enabled the analysis of the existing business model, with the results pointing to shortcomings in the Initial and Evaluation phases of the process. A steady rise in the number of tenders published in 2015–2022 was recorded. Local administrative units in the Continental region scored higher than those in the Adriatic region (both cities and municipalities) in terms of transparency. Unfortunately, the response rate from the local authorities was below 50% across both region and unit, further indicating low transparency. Based on the findings, a proposal of changes in the tendering process was made utilizing a digital platform as an environment for all stakeholders, which provides functionalities essential for the transparent implementation of tenders for the agricultural land lease in Croatia.

Sustainable urban development (planning) relies on up-to-date spatial and other information. Much of this data comes from government organizations, agencies and institutions which are obliged to make it open by the EU Open Data Directive (2019/1024) and Implementing Regulation (2023/138). The City of Zagreb has established spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to support the provision of spatial open government data. This paper analyses which government data relevant to urban planning is available in Zagreb SDI, in which form it can be assessed and to what extent is this data in line with the list of adopted high-value data in Europe. The results indicate that a number of spatial data exist, but data accessibility limits its reuse potential - data mostly available as view only.

The 2019 European Open Data Directive identifies geospatial data as data that could have a major impact on human activities (high-value data, HVD) and advocates its provision as open data (OD), i.e., without barriers to access and re-use. Although Croatia has implemented OD policies to support the provision of open data, many geospatial data are still not available, or if available, their level of openness ranks Croatia lower than Slovenia and Serbia on some ranking lists. Benchmarking tools have proven to be a powerful tool in identifying barriers in OD. This paper, therefore, benchmarks the level of openness and provision of geospatial HVD in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, using the extended and modified Global Open Data Index methodology (GODI Plus). It is expected that this will provide an answer to the status of OD policies and government engagement in OD in Croatia and identify good OD practices among the three countries analyzed. Furthermore, the results will be a baseline benchmark for future HVD analyses. The results reveal low data openness for Croatia and Serbia, high data openness for Slovenia, and a low level of government engagement in all three proposed countries.

Access, availability, and general interest in open data have increased significantly over the past decade. Open data can be published by various organizations and individuals, with public organizations being the largest producers of open data. Despite governments' efforts to publish a large number of high value datasets on open data portals, data reuse is still not satisfactory because users often lack the technical skills required to reuse data. Research has shown that providing open-source software and tools can help solve this problem. Since statistical datasets are among the high-value datasets and their visualization on a map can help in decision-making, this research explores the possibilities of using the Eurostat-map.js library, a novel JavaScript tool, to enable non-specialized users (e.g., researchers, journalists, and citizens) to use Eurostat statistical data to create thematic maps. By analysing use cases that utilize the Eurostat-map.js library and exploring cartographic principles and techniques available for mapping official statistical data, this research addresses its capabilities, limitations, and opportunities for future development. Although the eurostat-map.js library aims to provide a user-friendly approach, it is important to note that non-specialist users may still face challenges in using the library due to their limited technical and cartographic expertise. Creating maps and effectively visualizing Eurostat data requires a certain level of technical skills and cartographic knowledge. Non-specialist users, such as researchers, statisticians, journalists, and government agency personnel, who do not have extensive experience in programming or cartography, may find it more difficult to use the library than specialists in these fields.

The adoption of the Open Data Directive in 2019 compelled the launch of the Open Maps for Europe project, aiming to provide accessible and harmonized geospatial data from over 40 European countries. This research investigates the suitability of Open Maps for Europe data for creating a general purpose small-scale map of Croatia. The study applies digital cartographic procedures to produce the map, while assessing data quality and fitness for this task. The methodology for map creation involved seven key steps: (1) extracting data from the 1:250,000 scale EuroRegionalMap dataset, (2) performing geometric, topological, and attribute conversions, (3) applying cartographic generalization to adapt the map content to a 1:500,000 scale, (4) conducting data quality checks, (5) addressing exceptions, (6) symbolizing and placing names, and (7) designing a printable map. The resulting general-purpose map of Croatia at a 1:500 000 scale demonstrates that Open Maps for Europe data is generally suitable for map creation at this scale. However, challenges such as data heterogeneity among countries, data gaps in certain areas, inappropriate levels of generalization, and disordered geometry may arise. The map created should be considered an intermediate, rather than a reliable and trustworthy final product since rigorous quality control measures should be undertaken to produce the final map.

Dogs and dog owners are increasingly present in modern urban spaces, and the construction and maintenance of urban infrastructure that includes places for them has become standard in most major cities.We wanted to investigate the extent to which the City of Zagreb is adhering to open data principles when it comes to dogrelated data it makes available to citizens.The openness and quality of dog-related data was analysed in three steps.First, dog-related data was searched on various official websites and portals of the city and the data formats were ranked according to the five-star system for open data.In the second step, based on the available data, a field survey was conducted in 2020 to verify the found datasets and geocode them using a GPS device.In addition, the locations obtained from the local community of dog owners through social media were reviewed.Finally, data obtained from the survey was cross-checked with the government data to assess their quality.Government data on the locations of 300 dog waste bins and 72 green areas where dogs can be walked off-leash were available in Croatian from one or more government sources.All data sets found received the lowest score in terms of open data formats.Field survey revealed differences between the data and reality.The location of 40 dog waste bins could not be confirmed, and additional 53 bins were found that were not mentioned in the data.As for green areas, there were reportedly 10 dog parks in the city of Zagreb.The survey confirmed all locations and discovered 12 more, five of which were mentioned in the data but not designated as dog parks.The results suggest that the municipality needs to update the already open datasets more frequently.Improved implementation of these datasets into existing city data portals or the creation of a separate hub for dog owners would greatly improve the availability and reuse of this data by citizens.

Many national and international agencies and organizations collect and provide open access to data on parts of the Earth's surface covered by water. Data on ocean temperature and acidity, precipitation, river flows, lake, sea, and groundwater levels, and many other open data sets allow researchers to monitor and observe water at different scales and time frames, and to better understand ecological processes and human impacts on the water environment. The main challenge in analyzing the vast amount of openly available data on seas, oceans, and other parts of the Earth's surface covered by water is their heterogeneity and the complexity of dynamic processes, which can be highly variable both spatially and temporally. Effective visualization of such data on a map can help in the effort to make mutual relationships obvious, to recognize the impacts of different actions, and model and evaluate tradeoffs among possible solutions. This paper explores the options available to cartographers for designing various thematic representations of data related to the water-covered portions of the Earth's surface. Using a set of openly available data, we demonstrate how choice of map projection, color schema type, and color palette can influence the transfer of information related to ocean health. In this process we examine the role of cartography in designing various thematic representations of data related to parts of the Earth's surface covered by water.

Open government data (OGD) paradigm gained momentum in the recent years resulting in numerous OGD initiatives. These initiatives assured reliable and faster development of open data ecosystem on different administration levels. Diversity of government organizations dealing with different kinds of data, however, resulted in a variety of OGD initiatives. As a direct result, OGD portals developed through these initiatives show different functionalities, characteristics, and quality of provided data and services. This paper therefore aims to provide a better insight into the similarities and differences of data portals by analyzing their characteristics from thematical, semantical, functional, and technological perspective. The methodology used relies on the framework previously developed and implemented in Greece in 2015, consisting of multiple indicators assessing different characteristics of portals, in each of four perspectives. Results of the assessment show Croatian portals have well developed functionalities but also have limitations preventing data reuse. These limitations are mostly related to data discovery and absence of metadata and licenses by the publishing institutions.

Abstract. The new concept of Open Spatial Data Infrastructures (Open SDIs) has emerged from an increased interest in open data initiatives together with national and international directives, such as the EU Open Data Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1024), and the large investment of European public authorities in developing SDIs for sharing spatial data within public authorities. Open SDIs have the potential to boost reaching SDIs’ general aims and goals of facilitating the exchange and sharing of spatial data to support planning and decision-making by including public participation and increased openness in all aspects of SDIs, including Open SDI Education. The open SPatial data Infrastructure eDucation nEtwoRk (SPIDER) project aims to address Open SDI Education by particular emphasis on studying Active Learning and Teaching (ALT) methods for SDI education. This article provides a theoretical basis of ALT for SDI methodologies. We show in which way ALT practices were already implemented in SDI education at the Partner universities before the COVID-19 pandemic. We also describe how the pandemic functioned as a catalyst for implementing ALT practices to an online environment, and how students evaluated these practices. The outcomes of our research can serve as an inspiration for SDI education in other countries.

This research aims to assess available spatial open data related to access to hospitals in the three largest Croatian cities (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka), with a future aim to create digital services as an ecosystem that will be used in everyday situations, as part of the concept of “digital society”. Data analysis is performed for the following datasets: hospitals, hospital specialization, public transport (tram, bus), bike routes, car routes, parking and parking for people with disabilities. The future aim is to create a new mobile, multilingual and voice-based application that would enable quick access to information on hospital access, relying on the principles of the open data ecosystem, which would improve over time. There are four specific aims: (1) to identify and analyze portals and open datasets of the selected categories for the three largest Croatian cities; (2) to analyze existing open data assessment frameworks and detect gaps; (3) to create a conceptual open data assessment framework as an open data ecosystem that integrates new end-user perspectives; and (4) to analyze existing open datasets for the three largest cities in Croatia, based on supply and demand by researcher/developer categories, using the newly developed framework. The results show that existing open datasets related to hospital access in the three largest Croatian cities are scattered across different portals. Analyzed frameworks existing on the supply side of open data are more focused on the status of the components, lacking evaluation scales and not including end-user-driven aspects, which would be crucial for the open data ecosystem. As a result, the new “Hospital Access Framework” is created as a conceptual ecosystem, including five categories: supply, demand by researcher/developer, demand by end-user, legal aspect and impact. Analysis of existing open data for the three Croatian cities is performed for two categories (supply and demand by researcher/developer), for which KPIs, indicators and evaluation scales are developed. The other three categories are not analyzed, since the application cannot be developed from existing data, which are insufficient for the creation of a smart application. Results show that existing open data related to hospital access are incomplete or do not exist at all (hospital specialization, parking for people with disabilities, data on multilingualism and voice enabling). Average scores of the supply category are higher than those for demand by researcher/developer, although they are below the average grade, showing a lack of available data that could be used for further development. The new conceptual “Hospital Access Framework” open data ecosystem would benefit from end-user interaction, therefore, improving over time with end-users through interaction.