The United Kingdom Launched data.gov.uk

The OpenData movement has been a global phenomena. The Government of the United Kingdom has launched data.gov.uk, inspired by Data.gov: a U.S government website to "to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government."

They Gave Us The Beatles, We Gave Them Data.gov | The White House

There is a nationwide movement to unlock public data. Governments of all sizes are unlocking the value of data for their constituents. Washington, D.C., San Francisco, the City of New York, the State of California, the State of Utah, the State of Michigan, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have launched data.gov-type sites, as have cities in Canada and the UK. All of these sites are dedicated to breaking down longstanding barriers between governments and the people they serve -- facilitating collaboration and transforming dry data into tools that can improve people’s lives.

Providing more data to public and enabling third parties to develop apps by using the data, governments will become more accountable and transparent, and the public will widely benefit from the apps.

Also, it is an important step for governments to engage with the public and notice that it is more effective for governments to work together with the public in order to provide better services and improve the society.