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Good practice Imported

Montevideo's Open Data Portal — Latin America's Earliest Municipal Open-Data Programme

Uruguay · Montevideo · See the Uruguay profile · See the Montevideo profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 61% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Montevideo passed Latin America's earliest municipal open-data resolution in 2010 and now runs a CKAN portal with 78 datasets in eight categories; bus timetables are its most-used dataset, and the city has hosted the region's ILDA open-data initiative since 2016.

78
Datasets published
8
Dataset categories
61
Uruguay Open Data Barometer score (2017)
Montevideo's Open Data Portal — Latin America's Earliest Municipal Open-Data Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Intendencia de Montevideo (Montevideo City Government)
Period
2010–present
Keywords
open government, civic data, digital transparency

Context

In 2010 the Intendencia de Montevideo passed the first municipal resolution on open data in the region, making it one of the earliest local governments in Latin America to formally commit to publishing government data.

Objectives

The programme aims to publish municipal government data openly for public use and, since 2016, to serve as a regional hub for open-data practice across Latin America.

Activities

The city's CKAN-based portal hosts datasets organised into eight thematic categories covering case files, municipal health-post visits, waste management, vehicle mobility and street infrastructure. Since 2016 Montevideo has hosted the Iniciativa Latinoamericana por los Datos Abiertos (ILDA), extending the city's role from publisher to regional hub coordinating open-data practice across Latin America.

Results

The portal now hosts 78 datasets organised into eight thematic categories; an independent 2017 review by the Center for Data Innovation found that Uruguay's open-data ecosystem scored 61 on the Open Data Barometer, the second-highest in Latin America after Mexico, and singled out Montevideo's bus-timetable data as its most popular dataset with citizens.

Conclusions

At 78 datasets the portal remains modest in scale compared to larger capital-city platforms, and available sources document usage patterns and regional standing rather than a quantified service or economic outcome from the data.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — CKAN open-source platform; specific budget not disclosed in available sources.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — 2010 founding resolution; portal continuously operated since; regional hub role (hosting ILDA) since 2016.
Staffing & skills
Intendencia de Montevideo digital-services / open-data team

Conditions for success

  • municipal political commitment formalised via the 2010 resolution
  • CKAN open-source infrastructure
  • sustained regional role (hosting ILDA since 2016) reinforcing ongoing investment

Common failure modes

  • portal growth has remained modest (78 datasets after 16 years) relative to larger capital-city open-data platforms; available sources document no quantified service or economic outcome

Where it fits

Governance type
municipal government
Scale
city (Montevideo)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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