Elections PEI's Open Data Standards are based on the Government of Canada Data Standards.
Data Standards
- Availability and Access: The data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
- Re-use and Redistribution: The data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets.
- Universal Participation: Everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute. There should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, 'non-commercial' restrictions that would prevent 'commercial' use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed.
Structured Data
Structured data is usually in the form of text but follows a specific format giving it machine readability. Some more complex formats may be in binary format such as maps and GIS related files. You will find different formats on the Open Data page. This section covers some of the popular formats and provides some tips on how to work with them.
CSV
The easiest method for working with a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file is to use a spreadsheet application such as OpenOffice Calc or Microsoft Excel. Simply launch the application and open the .csv file to launch the application’s CSV import wizard.
Geo Formats - Shapefiles
ESRI Shapefiles (SHP) are popular geospatial, vector data files which are accompanied by a series of files necessary to use the SHP file.
