# Linked Open Government Data: Still a Viable Option for Sharing and Integrating Public Data?
## 5 What Is the Current State of Linked Open Government Data?
### What Is the Prevalence of RDF and SPARQL Endpoint Distributions in National OGD Portals? To verify the prevalence of LOD practices, we examined the presence of two key indicators, i.e., the number of datasets with RDF distribution(s) and the availability of SPARQL endpoints alongside the national portals of a large number of countries, selected according to the OGD index adopted by the UN [7]. The decision to concentrate on national portals, as opposed to other governmental portals such as geo-portals or statistical portals, as well as regional or transnational platforms, stems from the pivotal role these national portals play. As highlighted by the United Nations report [7], users prioritize identifying the \"official\" national government site among the multitude of potentially available government sites, recognizing it as the gateway or starting point for national users. [PERSON] et al. [49] emphasize that a government agency's official web presence serves as the authoritative source of information about its activities, distinguishing itself from unofficial sources like Wikipedia, the news media, or social networks, while [7] notes that national portals tend to be more advanced than those operating at the local level. According to [PERSON] et al. [43], national portals function as central one-stop platforms, offering interested public access to data published by government bodies. These portals play a crucial role in providing \"visibility to the process of translating policy into reality\". Considering the extensive coverage of the OGDI (Open Government Data Index), which assesses 193 countries, we utilized its ranking system that categorizes countries into four tiers. For our analysis of the adoption of LOD practices, we focused on the 78 countries rated as \"Very High\" and \"High\" by the OGDI [7] (see Table A1 in Appendix A). Thesecountries' portals were selected as they are expected to be the trendsetters, being the highest scored by the index. For the selected portals, we checked the presence of RDF distributions and the presence of SPARQL endpoints. The selection of these indicators is directly influenced by the third principle of LD, as proposed by [PERSON] in 2006, which states: \"When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL)\" ([[https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html](https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html)]([https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html](https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html)) (accessed on 1 February 2024)). [PERSON] outlined this principle as part of a broader framework to guide the effective use of the web for linking data, also slightly revising it, as the fourth star in the five-star scheme for LOD: \"use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL) to identify things so that people can point at your stuff\". Given this context, it is reasonable to infer that the presence or absence of these two parameters (RDF and SPARQL) in a national OD portal is indicative of the degree to which the portal adheres to LOD principles. This adherence is crucial for ensuring that, when users access a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), they are met with information that is both useful and standardized, thereby fulfilling a key aspect of LOD. The use of RDF distributions as a gauge to measure the prevalence of LOD practices is a concept endorsed by multiple researchers. These authors have highlighted, in both recent and occasionally unsystematic studies, the rather limited adoption of these practices [33; 57; 58; 59; 61; 62; 63]. [PERSON] et al. [58] underscore that \"RDFs are central to Linked Data and LOD\", encapsulating their crucial role. Meanwhile, [PERSON] et al. [33] emphasize the significance of RDF as a benchmark: \"Although RDF is not the exclusive format for serializing linked data, its widespread recognition as the most popular format makes it a valuable proxy for gauging the implementation of LOGD\".