Writing for US blog , San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom detailed the launch of DataSF.org to host the datasets and expressed the hope it would "create a torrent of innovation" similar to opening Facebook and the iPhone up to the developer community.
Newsom said data released by the city's environment department in the summer has already been used by a third party to develop an iPhone application, EcoFinder, which helps residents recycle based on their location.
In the UK a group of developers called Rewired State has worked on similar projects using government data and ran National Hack The Government Day in March.
This weekend it is running an event called Young Rewired State which will bring hackers aged 15-18 to Google's London headquarters to create more websites and applications to improve the public's access to government data.