Solutions
Integrations
Enhance your analytics solutions with our datasets.
Datasets
Download CSV, ORC, and Parquet data files.
Analytics
Connect your BI tools to our analytical query service.
Insights
Interactive reports with actionable insights.
Use Cases
Learn how you could unlock value from our datasets.
PricingAboutContact
Resources
Help Centre
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Documentation
Learn everything you need to know about Open Data Blend.
Updates & Blogs
Keep up to date with our latest news, updates, and thoughts.
Get Involved
Help to improve the Open Data Blend services for everyone.
Affiliates
Supplement your business with a new recurring revenue stream.
Manage Subscription
Solutions
Integrations
Enhance your analytics solutions with our datasets.
Datasets
Download CSV, ORC, and Parquet data files.
Analytics
Connect your BI tools to our analytical query service.
Insights
Interactive reports with actionable insights.
Use Cases
Learn how you could unlock value from our datasets.
PricingAboutContact
Resources
Help Center
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Documentation
Learn everything you need to know about Open Data Blend.
Updates & Blogs
Keep up to date with our latest news, updates, and thoughts.
Get Involved
Help to improve the Open Data Blend services for everyone.
Affiliates
Supplement your business with a new recurring revenue stream.
Manage Subscription

Hello, Analysis-Ready Open Data

Recent articles
Open Data Blend May 2025 Update
10th June 2025
Open Data Blend April 2025 Update
9th May 2025
Open Data Blend March 2025 Update
11th April 2025
Open Data Blend February 2025 Update
10th March 2025
Open Data Blend January 2025 Update
7th February 2025

11th June 2021

By Michael A

Open Data Issues

UK open data has a tonne of untapped potential. However, the challenges associated with handling large data volumes and overwhelming data complexity can become a major obstacle when trying to realise its value.

Data Volume

Most open data is small in volume, but it is often the very large datasets that contain the most impactful and actionable insights; they are good candidates for building business intelligence and advanced analytics solutions. The size of the data alone is not the issue; it is the challenge of efficiently transforming millions or billions of data points into an analysis-ready state. This is a task that typically requires a data engineering skill set and, even for a seasoned data engineer, creating, maintaining, monitoring, and enhancing the necessary data pipelines is a considerable amount of work.

Data Complexity

Although open, the data and context is often scattered across several semi-structured and unstructured data sources such as CSVs, Excel workbooks, Word documents, web pages, and even PDFs. It is quite common for the structure of these sources to change over time and sometimes without warning. Columns get dropped, moved, and renamed, and delimiters get swapped for something else. Add to this that the data needs to be carefully combined in a meaningful way, and you can see why a considerable amount of time is spent on data preparation rather than insight discovery.

Use Our Open Data Services


We have set out to solve the large data challenges and data complexity issues specifically for high-value UK open data. Today, we are launching two open data services: Open Data Blend Datasets and Open Data Blend Analytics. Each service provides access to three refined, high-value, and high-volume open datasets: Anonymised MOT Tests and Results, Great Britain Road Safety, and NHS English Prescribing. Over time we will add more datasets, prioritising quality over quantity.

Introducing Open Data Blend Datasets

The Open Data Blend Datasets service is primarily aimed at data engineers, data analysts, and data scientists. Our data engineering team have been hard at work building out a sustainable service that curates large open data from the UK, transforms it into analysis-ready datasets, enriches it with derived values, and makes it available through a frictionless open data catalogue.


Feature highlights:

  • Openly licensed data

  • All datasets are dimensionally modelled (i.e. star schemas)

  • Open Data Blend Dataset UI - A fast and lightweight data catalogue user interface

  • Open Data Blend Dataset API - An open access data catalogue and bulk data API that is built on open standards

  • Data file downloads in CSV (Gzipped), Apache ORC, and Apache Parquet formats

  • Rich metadata that includes data sources, column data types, column descriptions, useful links (e.g. to documentation from the original source)

  • 99.5% up-time SLA for paid plans



Browse through the Open Data Blend Datasets.

Introducing Open Data Blend Analytics

The Open Data Blend Analytics service enables data analysts and data scientists to analyse our datasets at the speed of thought. Our business intelligence team have worked tirelessly to bring you a service that will significantly reduce your time to insights and business value. Open Data Blend Analytics surfaces our datasets through a rich semantic data model that can be connected to and analysed from BI tools like Excel, Power BI, and Tableau.


Feature highlights:

  • Openly licensed data

  • Predefined calculations including sums, counts, averages, and percentages

  • Predefined drill-down hierarchies to support rapid report creation

  • Support for BI client tools such as Excel, Power BI, and Tableau for drag and drop report building experiences

  • For each dataset, at least two years of history plus the latest available year to date

  • Query the data model directly using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) or Multi-dimensional Expressions (MDX) from client tools like DAX Studio 2 and SQL Server Management Studio 18

  • 99.5% up-time SLA

Learn more about Open Data Blend Analytics.

Follow Us and Stay Up to Date

Follow us on X and LinkedIn to keep up to date with Open Data Blend, open data, and open-source data analytics technology news. Be among the first to know when there's something new.

Blog hero image by NASA on Unsplash.

Got feedback?
Get involved.
Created and maintained by

Copyright © 2019-2025 Nimble Learn Ltd. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated. Company Registration Number 08637310. VAT Number 174 9728 60.

Open Data Blend®, the Open Data Blend® logo, Nimble Learn®, and the nimblelearn® logo are registered trademarks of Nimble Learn Ltd. All other product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners, and their use does not imply endorsement.

Terms    Privacy    Cookies    SLA    Licensing    Docs    Status