Last week saw the launch of the new data.gov.au data platform, which – among other improvements – is now running on the open source CKAN platform.

The new platform will help support publishing of public data, as well as provide added functionality.

“This is just the beginning of a new effort to support and increase the open publishing of government datasets whilst making the data easier to use with API access and some basic data visualisation tools,” said said Pia Waugh, director for Gov 2.0 in the Technology & Procurement Division, Department of Finance and Deregulation, in a blog post.

“We have also cleaned up all the old datasets, added some new ones, are talking to data custodians, and are looking at how we can federate the platform with the other open data platforms around the country.”

The site will continue to be developed, taking into account user-feedback, so as to provide the best experience for users.

“We have had a beta of the site up since the end of May in time for the national GovHack competition which gave us a prime opportunity to test the platform with large number of developers,” said Pia.

“We’re in the process of looking at adding some new functionality over the coming months and later in the year, but we wanted to get basic publishing right first, so please check out the platform functionality, let us know what you think here in the comments, and help us make data.gov.au ever more awesome.”

For more information on the new platform, visit the AGIMO blog.