We explain some of the most common misconceptions we hear about the OpenActive initiative.
OpenActive has grown considerably since it first received funding from Sport England in 2016. Each month, over 220,000 opportunities to get active in over 1,000 locations are published using OpenActive data standards. We have over 100 organisations from the sport and physical activity sector help drive the initiative forward by publishing, using or championing open opportunity data — that is, data about where and when activities take place, that is shared for anyone to use.
Despite this progress, we know that for a lot of the sector, OpenActive is still an unfamiliar concept. So, we’ve put together some answers to some of the most common misconceptions we hear about the initiative.
“OpenActive is one big platform to help people find activities.”
Sport England once built a nationwide activity finder, Spogo, to help people get active, but this approach proved unsustainable. A lack of access to data, and the difficulties of creating a product that meets everyone’s needs — from people who are already fitness mad, compared to people who are not currently active, or people with young children compared to people with long-term health conditions — proved unsustainable. It’s part of the reason why Sport England decided to fund OpenActive.
OpenActive develops a standard format for the sport and physical activity to publish and use data about activities. We have a directory of links to data feeds from organisations that publish data to the OpenActive standard, but it’s not “OpenActive” that publishes this data. This data is then used across multiple platforms, tools and services.
“It’s better for everyone to come directly to my website.”
As mentioned above, when you choose to publish open opportunity data, it’s used across multiple platforms, tools and services. Huge national campaigns like This Girl Can, which reach millions, use open opportunity data on their website. Others target a specific demographic, for example an active partnership creating an activity finder for their local area, or Parasport, which connects disabled people with more opportunities to get active.
It’s an effective way for more people, or for new audiences, to discover your activities. Due to the range, it would be difficult to recreate through your own marketing campaigns. Plus in many cases, these platforms and services direct customers to your website for you.
“Sharing personal data is too risky.”
Data published to the OpenActive standard — which we call “open opportunity data” — is data about when, where and what activities take place. It doesn’t include personal data, or data about participation rates. It’s likely that the information that is included in open opportunity data is already visible to the public, for example on a website or a poster.
“I don’t want to open all my activities for anyone to find and join — some of them are for members only or already over-subscribed.”
You can control which activities you publish as open opportunity data, and which ones you don’t share. Speak to your (OpenActive-compliant) booking or management system provider about what you do and don’t want to publish.
“OpenActive is only for large leisure operators.”
Almost any kind of activity provider can benefit from OpenActive. If you run sessions or facilities, you’ll need to use an OpenActive-compliant booking or management system — many of which cater to small, grassroots providers.
We have also the Routes Specification for organisations that want to share or use data about walking, running and cycling routes.
“I have to let participants book my activities on third party websites for a fee.”
With OpenActive, you decide how you want to manage online booking for your services and under what terms — or if you even want to use online booking at all. You can use the Open Booking API to implement online booking, and we’re always happy to explain the advantages of doing so.
However, you can publish open opportunity data without Open Booking. Information about your activities can still appear on third party websites, and then customers will have to navigate to your website to book. It’s worth bearing in mind that some data consumers only feature activities that can be booked via their product, but this is not the case for every product that uses open opportunity data.
“OpenActive is a commercial enterprise.”
OpenActive is funded by Sport England. This funding supports the Open Data Institute (ODI) and ukactive to act as neutral stewards of the initiative, without commercial interests — we don’t make money from open opportunity data or bookings, we’re here to help you to do so.
“Other people can pretend to be my organisation, or the ones running my activity.”
You publish your data under an open license that forbids third parties from imitating you or claiming to be your company.
“I can share my data without following the OpenActive data standards.”
You can, but open data standards make it easier to publish, access, share and use better quality data. Without following a standard, the information you publish might not have any meaning to someone else. For example, if you describe an activity as “suitable for kids’’ what does it mean? That might mean under 18 to one organisation, and under 12 to another. The purpose of OpenActive standards is to make sure we all have the same understanding and usage of data about activities. Which is why we recommend you use them!
Do you have a question that hasn’t been answered? Let us know! [email protected]
