Scottish Government Statistics
statistics.gov.scot is the Scottish Government's official open data platform built on linked data (RDF). Data is queried via a SPARQL endpoint.
Data Model
- Datasets — Statistical datasets identified by URI (e.g. http://statistics.gov.scot/data/earnings). Each dataset has observations with dimensions and measures.
- Dimensions — Categories like geography, time period, gender, age group.
- Measures — Numeric values (counts, percentages, rates).
- Geographies — Scottish council areas, health boards, parliamentary constituencies, data zones.
Common Dataset URIs
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/earnings — Earnings by geography and gender
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/house-sales-prices — House prices
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/economic-inactivity — Economic inactivity
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/mid-year-pop-est — Mid-year population estimates
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/crime-and-justice — Crime and justice
- http://statistics.gov.scot/data/hospital-admissions — Hospital admissions
SPARQL Patterns
List all datasets
SELECT DISTINCT ?dataset ?label
WHERE {
?dataset a <http://publishmydata.com/def/dataset#Dataset> .
?dataset <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> ?label
}
ORDER BY ?label
Get observations from a dataset
SELECT ?geo ?period ?value
WHERE {
?obs <http://purl.org/linked-data/cube#dataSet> <http://statistics.gov.scot/data/earnings> .
?obs <http://purl.org/linked-data/sdmx/2009/dimension#refArea> ?geo .
?obs <http://purl.org/linked-data/sdmx/2009/dimension#refPeriod> ?period .
?obs <http://statistics.gov.scot/def/measure-properties/median> ?value
}
LIMIT 20
Gotchas
- Queries can be slow for large datasets; always use LIMIT
- The SPARQL endpoint accepts POST with query form parameter
- Results return as application/sparql-results+json
- Geographic URIs use Scottish-specific codes (S-codes)
- Time periods are URIs like http://reference.data.gov.uk/id/year/2023
