What is a data ecosystem map?
A data ecosystem map illustrates the different actors in a data ecosystem, and how value is exchanged across it.
A data ecosystem is the people, communities, and organisations that are stewarding data, creating things from it, deciding what to do based on it, influencing any of those activities, or are affected by any of those activities.
Data infrastructure is made up of data assets, standards, technologies, policies and the organisations that steward and contribute to them.
Download the 'Data Ecosystem Mapping: tool and guide'
View the Data Ecosystem Mapping: tool and guide. This is a PDF of the hard-copy version (not designed for home/office print – see below for print-at-home version).
If you’d like some hard-copy versions for your organisation, please contact us to discuss how we can work together, or to organise some training.
View the A4 print-at-home versions of the ‘data ecosystem mapping guide’. This is a simple black-and-white version of the guide for home/office printing.
English-language version: Data Ecosystem Mapping guide [PDF]French-language (français) version: Data Ecosystem Mapping guide [PDF]German-language (Deutsche) version: Data Ecosystem Mapping guide [PDF]
If you’d like some hard-copy versions for your organisation, please contact us to discuss how we can work together, or to organise some training.
View Mapping data ecosystems, a guide to the methodology behind data ecosystem mapping.
Why use this tool?
Creating a data ecosystem map helps to understand how data creates value. It identifies the data, data stewards and data users; the different roles they play; and the relationships between them.
You can use your map as a practical tool to plan and visualise a data ecosystem, or show opportunities for increasing value to particular parts of a data ecosystem.
A data ecosystem map can be used to:
- Collaborate directly with other stakeholders for organisational/ecosystem change
- Explore new sources of data to improve internal operations
- Exploit existing data flows to drive new services or improve existing services
- Inform a project to build a data-enabled service
- Identify where changes are needed, and what effects they might have
Learn more about the background and research around data ecosystem mapping
This tool is part of the ODI's wider data and public services toolkit