Hon Louise Upston

Minister for Land Information
20 July 2016

Guidelines unlock govt software for innovation

New guidelines will let kiwi techies use government software to help build other innovative software, says Land Information Minister Louise Upston.

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has released guidelines to help government agencies apply open source licences to their software.

“Making government data freely available has resulted in businesses using it to develop precision agricultural tools and create apps for trampers. By taking the same approach to software, it too can be turned into new products for people to use,” says Ms Upston.

The new guidelines provide clarity on how government agencies can make their software open source, just as they do with their data.

Ms Upston says the guidelines were developed using open source tools, with discussions taking place on the online group decision making programme, Loomio. The final draft guidelines were revised in public on the open source repository GitHub.

“This approach reflects a move to greater public participation in government decision making, pulling in both government agencies and software experts.”

To view the guidelines please visit: https://www.ict.govt.nz/guidance-and-resources/open-government/new-zealand-government-open-access-and-licensing-nzgoal-framework/NZGOAL-SE.

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